The Great Journey
by Kiwi Lord
Summary: What happens when a US Marine is taken off the battlefield of Iraq and placed in the Avatar world? What happens when he falls in love and finds out the true intentions of the Fire Nation? Will he stay with his love or fight the tyrannical power? Rated for violence and language
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers, this is my first story that I have ever written for Fanfiction so bear with me on this one. This is just some idea that I was thinking about when I was lying awake late one night. I decided to finally publish one of my stories; so if you like it and think I should continue it let me know. Also, all criticism to make the story better and more interesting is greatly appreciated. Lastly, my story does involve an OC and will be in his POV when he is in the story and will alternate between two different worlds, which exist in the same time frame, though it is a little bit AU. Though it may seem confusing now it will become clear in the story. Without further ado I present you my story.**

To those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Austin Bourne and I am a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently 19 years old as I joined the Marines straight out of high school. And this is my story.

**IRAQ – AUGUST 2012**

I just started my second month of my tour in Iraq. Today was just any other ordinary day for me; it was my turn to go out for a patrol. I boarded the Humvee and we took off. Today seemed like a calm day, nice almost, as we cruised down the road. I was looking lazily out the window when something caught the corner of my eye; something was causing a glint on the side of the road. All of a sudden we just stopped in the middle of the road. _Something doesn't add up around here. _Then all hell broke loose.

"We're under attack, enemy fire coming in hot from your 12!" shouted Staff Sergeant James Smith.

"Bourne get on the 50 and provide suppressing fire!" yelled my CO Joseph Allen.

"On it sir," I quickly replied back.

We are in a hotbed of warfare, strapped in the middle of Fallujah; we're in the central of terrorist attacks. We were being flanked from all sides by Taliban fighters; my squad and I were pinned down with little left to do so I decided to take definitive action. _Great and this is only my second month in combat. _I swiftly grabbed my standard issued M16 and took off and started to engage these terrorists. I promptly took 3 down and then another 2 with one of my grenades. Bullets started ricocheting off surfaces all around me. I start engaging more targets as the ping of bullets rings through my ears. An enemy grenade lands about 30 feet from me launching me back. When I got up I was disoriented and confused.

"Searg, Captain, hello, anyone there?"

I look around yet I see no one, as if I am alone in the dark fabrication of my mind. Then I see it. Right in front of me is a floating oval shaped thing that has mist emanating from it. I sit there contemplating what it could be, then all of a sudden it starts sucking in everything in its path. I struggle and try to fight it though it is hard to do with all my gear on. Ultimately it is a battle I can't win and I get sucked into it.

"Is everyone here alright?" asks Allen.

"Yea we're all good" replies Smith.

"Good, now let's get a head count," Allen said.

"Uhm Cap, where's Bourne at?" wonders Corporal Ryan Ramirez.

"Jesus Christ and mother of God!"

**AVATAR WORLD – FIRE NATION**

The royal Princess Azula awakens from her long sleep after a long and hard night. She walks out of bed and starts to get ready for the day ahead. First she puts her hair up in the traditional matter, and then she calmly puts on her royal robes. Suddenly a rasping noise comes from the door.

"What do you want!"

"Excuse me princess, but your father has called for your presence in his chambers."

"Very well inform him that I will be there shortly."

"Yes your highness."

Azula walked with pride in her step as she made her way towards her father's chambers. As she walked down, she scowled at the servants, soaking in the fear from their eyes. She enjoyed it, as much as a young child might enjoy playing with a doll. She didn't want love, no, love wasn't good enough for the great and powerful Azula; fear is what she demanded and fear is what she got.

Entering her father's chambers she bowed in the traditional method. "You asked for my presence father?"

"Ah Azula you are finally here, sit down. As you know we are continuing our persistent journey of finding the Avatar and winning the war altogether. However, things are rash and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find him. That is why on the day of Sozin's comet I will launch my invasion of the Earth Kingdom and once I defeat the Avatar once and for all, I will wipe that tiny and weak excuse of a people off the globe for good."

"That is most excellent news father; then I will be able to defeat that treacherous brother of mine and show him who the most powerful bender truly is."

"Indeed. I have planned a ceremony tonight in honor of what will be our greatest improvement on mankind. Think of it as an early celebration of what is to come. Now hurry and go get ready for this grand festival of ours, and don't be late!"

"Yes father." And with that the princess left to return back to her room. She had a long task ahead of her to make herself perfect for tonight's affairs, and she was going to be perfect, like she always was.

Later That Night…

The crowed of the Fire Nation, citizens and soldiers alike, gathered around into the plaza in front of the great palace to hear what their leader had to say.

"Ladies and gentlemen, loyal subjects and those forced to obey my rule; tonight we have gathered here not to honor a great event in our past, but to honor one that is in our future. We are on a path towards greatness where we will become the most dominant people on the planet. You will be called upon as you have in the past to step up and represent this wonderful nation of ours. But tonight enjoy yourselves and let the festivities begin."

With that the crowd roared and music started playing. The people were about to disperse when suddenly a bright flash lit the night sky.

"Azula why did you use lightning, you could have killed me!"

"Father it wasn't me I swear."

_Huh where am I? And who are all these people? _I had no idea what was going on, only that I was wearing the heart of war and covered in the grime of battle in front of what looked a giant crowd of people gathered for some sort of event.

"Guards! Attack the intruder at once!"

All I heard was attack and intruder and I was on the move. Reaching for my sidearm I grabbed my M9 and started engaging targets. _Why are these men holding spears? Well this should be a walk in the park. _I quickly down the first one running at me with three rounds to his chest. I quickly turn around and pop off another two rounds and he's out for the count. However, three more rush in to take his place and I'm quickly outnumbered again.

"What are you waiting for! Kill the earth-bender!"

_Earth-bender? What is this guy talking about? _I quickly discard it from my memory and send off my last ten shots, killing two and leaving the last guy injured and out of the battle. I reach for my knife preparing myself for any more threats, and just like that, four more soldiers take his spot. _Jesus, how many of these are you? _I plan for my next move when fire, _WOAH FIRE!_ _This isn't good. _I launch myself at the nearest guard and with a series of stabs, his life gone with it. I sense an attack from behind and swiftly dodge a fire ball that was launched from his… foot? I turn around and cast a multitude of kicks and punches at him. We trade blows and I go in for the final strike to dispose him from the battle.

Right before my punch connects, I feel something emanating from deep within. Like a great power that wishes to be released. All of a sudden I felt a spark and then fire shot out of my hands and into the man's chest.

"What the hell was that?! How did I do that?! Fire just came out of my hand! What is wrong with me?!"

"Guards STOP! This man is no earth-bender, no; he is one of our own. But just exactly who are you?"

**Author Notes: Well what did you guys think? Hopefully not too horrible for my first fanfic. I've been dying to publish one forever I just couldn't think of what to write and how to write it. I know its weird him having the ability to fire-bend its just that I imagine when someone goes to the avatar world they have their own element that they can bend, in his case its fire-bending (mine too). I tried to keep to historical accuracy as best as I could and modified some stuff to better serve the story. In case you didn't pick up on it when the words are italicized that means the main character, Austin, is thinking. It will mainly take place in the avatar world with quick tidbits of the real world every now and then. Anyways I digress, if you liked it let me know. If you want me to continue the story either let me know through a review or pm me. I am open to all constructive criticisms on how to make the story more enjoyable and easier to read for you, the reader. Until next time **


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: Hey so I'm back with the second chapter of the story. Most of the time I will update the story once a week depending on my school work and soccer. Anyways, as usual let me know what you think of the story and any suggestions on how to make it better. Oh, I almost forgot a disclaimer. I don't own Azula or any of the other characters from Avatar the Last Airbender. Nor do I make any money out of this; this is just for your pleasure to enjoy something that I myself enjoy. However Austin Bourne and other military characters are created by me though I do make a reference to an actual Marine that died in the war. Anyhoo, please enjoy the second installment of **_**The Great Journey**_**.**

"If you wish to live I suggest you state your name!" Azula spat at him. He swore he saw lightning flashing in her eyes as she glared him down.

"I am Austin Bourne of the United States Marine Corps." He replied as he regained his composure. He looked around and clearly saw that he was no longer on the battlefields of Iraq; no, he was in a completely different world filled with stands and shops everywhere, almost as if he went back in time. He quickly shook his head, that's preposterous there's no way I can go back in time, well, not without a DeLorean and Doc Brown.

"Well Austin Bourne of the United States Marine Corps, where do you hail from?" Firelord Ozai eyed him carefully, watching his every move. This man was clearly not from around here yet he was a firebender just like they were, and from the looks of it, not a very good one at that.

"Actually it's just Bourne, Austin Bourne; and I'm from a place that you've probably never heard of. In fact I was kind of hoping that you could tell me where I am." This strange place he was in was nothing like he had seen or heard of before. _Besides, I'm pretty sure I would have remembered something about people shooting fire out of their hands._

"Well, Austin Bourne, you are in the greatest nation of all the land, the powerful and mighty Fire Nation." Ozai boomed as he launched flames into the sky. Austin couldn't believe it; the man shot fire out of his hands without even trying. It was as if every person in this bizarre country could shoot fire out of their hands.

_That's weird I've never heard of a country called the Fire Nation. Yea it's official, I'm in a different world. The only question is how? _"Ok, will you please enlighten me more about this Fire Nation?"

"I believe that we have much to discuss. Azula! Escort our guest to the war room." Ozai bellowed as he started on his way back to the balcony to address the people. Suddenly a devious thought came to his mind.

"Yes father. Come intruder follow me to the war room." Austin didn't say anything nor could he. He was mesmerized by the entire fiasco taking place in front of him. He was contemplating on how to comprehend the situation when his thoughts were brutally interrupted. "I will not repeat myself again! Come with me now!"

"Alright, alright, geesh." _Man what am I getting myself into?_

"My loyal subjects of the Fire Nation I wish to inform you that everything is under control and to remain calm. In fact this is a sign sent by the Spirits that we are on the right path and destined for greatness. With this great being on our side no one can stop us and we will rid the world of all its impurities!" With that the crowd broke into exceptional cheers and resumed their partying. Ozai just smiled and headed back inside. Things were about to become very interesting.

**IRAQ**

"Jesus Christ! What the hell happened?! This whole place is a bloody fucking nightmare!" Smith roared out. The aftermath of the firefight was nothing short of a massacre. Dead bodies of insurgent fighters littered the streets and vehicles on fire were scattered throughout the area.

"Hey keep your head. We need to stay calm!" Allen shouted back at him. It was true; the last thing they needed was more chaos.

"Stay calm? Stay calm. Stay Calm! Bourne just disappeared out of fucking thin air and our Humvee was blown to shit! On top of that we're still stranded here without any support and more than likely more terrorists on their way to finish us off!"

"Searg get ahold of yourself! You're way out of line to be talking back to the Captain like that." Private First Class Chance Phelps redirected back at him. Under no circumstances are you to talk back to your superior.

"You're right I don't know what I was thinking. I was out of line and I apologize."

"It's alright we just need to establish radio contact and get an evac back to base. Then we can deal with all this shit and the whole ordeal with Bourne. Dela Cruz, get ahold of base and request a medevac pronto."

"Already on it Cap," replied Lance Corporal Andrew Dela Cruz as he set up communications. "Alright things are up and running, establishing connections… now."

Allen grabbed his mic and began to speak. *static* "Command, this is ArchAngel – over. I repeat this ArchAngel – over."

For a few brief seconds hope was beginning to diminish but then a female voice broke through. "Roger ArchAngel this is Command – over."

"Roger Command, we have reports of tangos coming in from the north, break. We have a few men with various injuries and are requesting a medevac, how copy - over."

"Roger ArchAngel what is the status of the injuries –over?"

"2 have taken rounds to the legs and a possible fracture in the arm for another break. And one, well, to put it frankly he's missing –over."

"Roger ArchAngel, what do you mean he's missing –over?"

"It's a long story that is hard to explain, break. Just send the medevac and we'll tell you on the way back –over."

"Roger ArchAngel what is your position – over?"

"We're 2 clicks south and 5 clicks east of the target zone –over."

"Roger ArchAngel a bird has been sent to your location and should be arriving in 20 minutes how copy?"

"Roger Command, Lima Charlie –out."

**Fire Nation**

Azula strode down the halls grimacing at the servants as she walked by. Austin was entail as he tried to keep up.

"So where exactly are we going again?"

"For the last time we are going to the war room to discuss what is going to happen to you. I swear if I have to tell you one more time there won't need to be a meeting to discuss your future." And with that the two walked in silence for the remainder of the short journey.

The two sat there in an awkward silence until her father came busting through the doors, which immediately closed behind him, effectively keeping out potential intruders or spies.

"So tell me Mr. Bourne where exactly is it that you came from?" Ozai directed at him as he took his seat.

"Well in my world I come from a place called the United States of America. It is a country much like this one though we don't have kings or queens, rather a person elected by the people of the country run it."

"Hmm this is all very interesting news indeed. Tell me, how is it that you ended up here and why is it that you came to this 'other world' as you call it?"

"I'm not really sure to be honest. One moment I was engaging our enemy, then it suddenly became dark and I was sucked into some sort of portal of something. The next I know I'm dropped on a marble floor and getting attacked by a different kind of soldier."

"Ah so you were a soldier in your own world how interesting. Tell me, why is it that you were fighting this enemy of yours?"

"I believe that I was fighting to liberate other countries of a tyrannical rule that wished to punish and harm its citizens. I sought to bring balance to the world and protect the people of my country from harm."

"Yes just like we are doing here! We as a great nation are looking to restore peace and harmony to the world through this horrid war. I believe it was destiny that you came to us in our time of need. How would you like to join us in our quest towards glory?"

"Well I don't believe much in destiny but I would be willing to help out a person that believes in the same things as I do. But what is it that you have in mind and what do I get in return?" Austin wasn't quite sure he could trust this man or new what his real intentions were; but he figured that until he could find a way home we would do to his absolute best to make most of the situation and stay alive the best he could.

"Great then it is settled. You will teach my elite guards in your style of fighting so they can become the ultimate fighters and in return I will allow you to stay at the palace and will even assign you a personal teacher that will help you master the art of firebending."

Austin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not only would he stay at this grand palace, but he would learn more about this so called art known as firebending. "Yea, sure, sounds great; I meant to ask you more about that anyways."

"You will learn everything you need to know in due time. Meanwhile, Azula show our new guest to his new abode for the duration of the stay."

"Of course father. Come with me if you wish to continue breathing." Azula sneered at him as she began her departure from the room. Austin couldn't understand her, well women in general, but it seemed as if she was always bitter and snappy towards everyone except her family. _The crazy bitch is probably on her period._

"Well this is your quarters; if you need anything just yell at the servants and they'll get you whatever your little heart desires." She spat with dripping sarcasm.

"Do I have to yell? And I think I can get whatever I need by myself."

"I find yelling and fear work best but suit yourself. I'll be leaving now."

"Yea thanks miss… miss… uhm, I'm afraid I didn't catch your last name."

"That's because you're not worthy enough to hear it. But if you must address me then call me Princess."

"Alright, in that case good night Princess." By the time he was finished she had already left for her room, completely ignoring anything he was going to say. _Definitely on her period._

**Author Notes: Well how'd I do on this one? Hopefully better than the first and if not it gets better I promise. If it seemed kind of like a filler chapter I apologize I just wanted to include what was happening on the real world just so you don't forget about that. Once again historical accuracy was tried to be kept to be as accurate as possible with my limited knowledge. Any comments or suggestions are highly welcomed and all you have to do is just leave a little review. Well that about raps it up for this chapter. Until next time **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: And I'm back for the newest installment of my one and only story. I've been trying to make each chapter longer but I don't want to make it so long that it becomes unbearable to read. That's why I decided to space them out over multiple chapters. Just giving you a heads-up that later on I will be creating multiple endings to the story as the ideas come to me; I already have a few planned out but not quite finalized as yet. But, that's a long ways from now so I wouldn't worry about. I digress, the usual the characters don't belong to me, they are property of Nickelodeon and the creators; and I don't make any money off this, this is purely for your enjoyment, which I hope you do enjoy. Now on with the story!**

I awoke with a blinding light coming in from the sun, peering through the curtains that were just abruptly opened by some maid of some sort, signaling that a new day had begun.

"Eh what the hell, the light burns my eyes, just give me five more minutes, I swear I'll get up." It then occurred to me where I was. I looked around and realized I was in the largest bedroom I had ever seen in my life; and on top of the most comfortable bed that seemed was made of clouds, well, it certainly seemed like it after what I had been used to sleeping in.

"Oh I am quite sorry sir, it's just that I was given orders to come in and wake you up." I could tell she was scared and a little bit nervous. She was probably used to being yelled at by the royals and their obnoxious and slightly deranged daughter.

"No, no, it's quite alright. It was time for me to wake up anyways and it sure beats how I'm used to waking up so thank you." I figured that a little kindness could go a long way with someone like her after all the hell that they have to endure with a job like this.

"Oh, well, you're welcome. I set your change of clothes for today on the dresser in front of the mirror and more will be arriving later today for your prolonged stay." She had a sweet and calm voice. The kind of voice that says she is a down to earth person but has seen and endured more hell given to her than many recieve in lifetimes.

"Why thank you my fair lady." So I like to talk elegant sometimes, shoot me. I was beginning to wonder what I would wear around these parts. I mean I just can't go around in my BDUs the whole time.

"If you need anything at all, anything, just ask and I'll see to it that it gets done." She said as she smiled and brushed her hair. _Was she, nah, there's no way._

"Yea I'll be sure to keep that in mind. And hey, have a great rest of the day." All she did was just smile and nod as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

After taking a bath, why a bath, why can't they have showers, I got dressed and decided to hit the palace. I wandered around the halls for quite a while, not really sure where I wanted to go, nor where I was going. Then a loud rumble emanating from my stomach broke me from my thoughts. _Man I sure am hungry; I wished I asked that maid where to go to get some food around here._

As if reading my mind, another maid that was passing by said, "the mess hall is down the hall and on the left; but for you the royal dining area is down the hall, to the right, down that hall, take a left and continue down that hall, take a right and the room is the second door on the left." By the time she was done she was out of breath and slightly annoyed that she had to relay the information to me.

"Alright, let's see, right then left then wait, what? Can you please repeat that one more time for me?" If looks could kill then I would have been burnt to ashes in a matter of mere seconds.

"Just remember right, left, right, second left." She said in a bothered tone and with that she continued back to her job.

I continued to wander down the halls looking for the room all the while muttering to myself the directions on how to get there. "Right, left, right, second left. Wait did I take a right or left at that turn? Oh well let's just hope this is the right room."

As I entered the room through the giant double doors I felt all eyes turn on me. True there weren't many people in the room; in fact there were only six people with no guards surprisingly, yet it seemed as if I walked into a party with no clothes on. I wanted to turn and nonchalantly walk out but I never had the chance.

"Ah it's good to see that you made it here. I take it you slept well?" Ozai questioned me as he directed me to a seat at his table.

"Yea I guess I did. Don't take this in the wrong way but am I in the right place and if so why am I here?" I felt out of place being at the table where the king, and from the looks of things his two highest military leaders, sat.

"You are in fact in the right place and the reason why I called you over here is to discuss your schedule and to finalize what it is exactly that you will be doing here." _Great this ought to be interesting. Hopefully not all of my freedom is taken away._

"Alright so what exactly is it that I'll be doing here during my stay?" I wasn't sure I was going to like the answer to the question but I decided that it's probably best that I don't piss off the king of the country in which I'm staying at.

"Well it's actually quite simple. The mornings are left up to you. However, near midday you will train the troops in combat in both physical and educational manners, enlightening them of warfare through their body and minds respectively. Then you are allowed a break in which you can consume food and set preparations for the rest of the day. Lastly, as per agreement, your personal teacher will teach you the history and practices of both the Fire Nation and firebending. At the end of the day you will report to me and my generals here over dinner." It was a long speech and from replaying it in my head it sounded like he had prepared it over and over again until he nailed it to a tee. Though it did seem like he was leaving something out, the only question is, what?

"Well that sounds like quite the schedule though I think it is fair and manageable. I will work to the best of my abilities and thank you for your hospitality." I was relieved that I got as much freedom as I did for surely I assumed it would be all but taken from me like a prisoner in an enemy country.

"I would imagine so. If you would excuse us we have other, more important matters to attend to. You may now obtain your food and spend the remainder of your time with my daughter and her friends, though you only have a short amount of time so I suggest you make it quick." And with that the Fire Lord and the generals left the room.

At that moment I realized that there were indeed three other people in the room and as I turned to face them I found they were staring intently at me, as if seeing into my soul, trying to read me. One was of course the Princess whom looked like she wanted nothing to do with me, one was a short and bubbly looking girl who was overly happy considering the current situation at hand, and the last was a dark and gloomy person who looked like she hated the world and everything in it.

As I made my way towards their table I began to think that this was a terrible idea, I mean who needs breakfast anyways. My stomach decided to answer that with a ferocious growl. _Oh, that's right, I do. Well it's now or never, might as acquaint myself with them._ "Hey I'm pretty hungry so is it ok if I, you know, maybe sit down, and uh eat food with you guys?" _Smooth Austin, real smooth._

"Sure it is cutie; you can sit right next to me. What's your name? I'm Ty Lee and this is Mai," the bubbly one known as Ty Lee said in a cherry tone.

"Yea, whatever" the other one known as Mai said in the most monotone voice in the existence of ever. _She must be a real blast._

"Right, anyways, my name is Austin and it's a pleasure to meet you both." _There we go, much better._

"Not that I care, but why is it that you came over here? Is there something you wish to tell us or want?" Azula inquired in an irritated tone. I guess everything is business with her.

"No I just wanted to come over to eat some food and have a nice chat." It was odd; it looked like she gave a small smile to that as if she wanted to talk to me too. _How interesting, I'll be sure to keep an eye on her._

"Ooh I love to talk, whatcha wanna talk about? Ooh I know, where are you from? I've never heard the name Austin before, you must be from some place really far away? Do people look the same and act the same and eat the same stuff there? Do they have weird names like yours?" _Dang does she always talk like this? It's like she's on an overload of happy?_

"Ok, ok, one at a time. To answer your first question, I'm not from any place around here, but since you look to be the princess' most trusted companions," _probably only friends, _"I will tell you that I am from a different world entirely."

The range of emotions and reactions was quite astounding, ranging from angered to excited. "What are you doing, only me and my father are supposed to know that!" "A different world that's so COOL!" "I could've told you that one just by the way he looks."

"Yea and to answer your next question not everyone looks like and acts the same as me. See unlike you we have many nations, in fact well over 100 countries with different nationalities, many people of which have moved to my country throughout the years. And yes they have weird names like me though mine is quite common compared to most." I could tell that they were fascinated, well Ty Lee at least, by their facial expressions. They've probably never realized that people could be so different throughout the world and live together.

"That's so amazing tell us more about this great place you come from." Ty Lee begged enthusiastically. It was obvious that she wanted to learn more about strangers, probably didn't get to meet very many being locked up in a palace and all. Ah the irony.

Just as I was about to tell them more about my life and the world I'm from, a guard walked in signaling that it was my time to leave. "Listen I'd love to stay and chat but duty calls. How about we continue this conversation at a later time?"

"That sounds wonderful." "If you are lucky enough." "Whatever." And with that I left the room with the guard following close behind.

"Sir, the training of the elite soldiers will begin momentarily. The training grounds are in the center of the palace, just follow this hallway and doors leading outside will be on your right. Your armor is being prepared for you as we speak and should be ready for you by the time you get there." The guard had his mini monologue nailed and was probably smart when it came to politics, thus earning him his current position.

"Thank you for the information, but I won't be needing my armor today. I have a different plan in store, one that involves a whole lot of a different kind of pain." The guard was taken aback by my rash statement, confused as to why I would not need armor in training soldiers.

"I beg your pardon. I do not quite understand what you mean by the statement that you need no armor. Surely you wish to protect yourself in combat." I just smiled at him and stopped right next to the doors before heading outside.

"You are correct my dear fellow, but the fact of the matter is that there will be no combat today. They are going to suffer the same hell that I had to when I was in training, only more focused and intense. Consider yourself lucky that you are not a part of this group." And with that I proceeded to head outside, breathing in the fresh air and soaking up the sun, ready to introduce a new kind of suffering, the likes of which they have never seen before.

**Author Notes: My third chapter is finally up. I went with a different kind of style hoping that if would appeal more to the reader. Anyways, up next Austin instructs the recruits and has an interesting rest of the day to say the least, so stay tuned! Until next time**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Alright so I have been getting quite a bit of feedback lately and I took that into consideration. My story might sound a tad different from here on out as far as characterization goes, but this is only in response to reviews I got and the story will not be affected. Also, there will be some parts that are in Azula's pov, and I pay homage to one of my favorite characters from the show, though it's a bit AU, see if you can spot it. Anyways, thanks for the reviews and here is the latest installment of **_**The Great Journey. **_**Enjoy!**

I walked out into the open courtyard and found a group of men standing around waiting to begin their training. What they didn't know was that this was going to be hell on earth for them all over again. _Well this is going to be interesting _I inwardly smirked as I made my way over to them. "ALRIGHT MAGGOTS LINE UP!" I screamed at them. I had to go through the most agonizing and painful experience ever, and now they were going to have to suffer the same fate.

The group of soldiers quickly lined up after hearing the order. "NOT LIKE THAT, SINGLE FILE. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" After a few brief seconds the group managed to line up again, this time in the correct order.

"My name is Austin and I will be your instructor, your own personal deliverer on pain, but you will refer to me only as sir. Is that understood!" I was the role of the student, but now I was the role of the teacher, and I was going to enjoy every moment of it. "Sir yes sir." "I DIDN'T HEAR YOU!" "SIR YES SIR!"

"Good. Now I've been told you are the best, but, we are going to put that to the test! Once you're done with me not even the Fire Lord himself will want to face you!" At that moment I heard a snort from one of the men at the end of the line.

I ran in front of the soldier, our faces a mere few inches apart, ready to tear him apart. "DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK! WHAT IS YOUR NAME PRIVATE!" The man had a sense of arrogance to him and held his head high; he was one of those hotshots that thought he was better than everyone else. Well, things were about to change.

"The name's Yao Li, but you can just call me Yao." He said snippily with a sense of pride. _Yep, definitely one of those cocky pricks. I think it's about time to change that. _

"ACTUALLY I THINK I'LL CALL YOU TURD! YOU FIND SOMETHING FUNY, TURD!" He was now literally shaking in his boots, the fear finally setting in. "Uh… no." "NO WHAT, MAGGOT!" "Uh, no sir." "LOUDER!" "NO SIR" "GOOD NOW DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME ONE-HUNDRDED!" "SIR, YES SIR!"

While the new recruit dropped down to do his set of pushups I went back to the center of the line and addressed the rest of the troops. "Alright men listen up! From here on out you will be stripped of your identity and be created as a unit. You will no longer have the luxury of your past life; you'll be a single unit, and god dammit the most effective one out there. But first you have to go through training all over again, and I promise you, this time around you're gonna wish you were dead." I bellowed out my mini monologue over them as they stood there in awe, in awe of the sheer awesomeness and terror that was about to unfold upon them.

I was ready to lead them into their first step of training when one of the recruits broke my attention with one of his questions. "Excuse me sir, but aren't we going to need our equipment if we are going to be training?" I felt a grin creep up my face as I turned to face him. "That's my favorite question, and in return I am going to give you my favorite answer. You're not going to need your supplies for a while. Welcome to hell week boys!" And with that I led them on their 10 mile run; when we came back more than half of them were ready to lie down and die.

"You boys must be real tired! You want a break, fine, get down and give me one-hundred pushups and two-hundred crunches! NOW!" They immediately got down and started doing their reward to the run; well, all accept for one particular man.

"TURD WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!" I blared out as I made my way right next to him. As I got near him I could see what he was looking at, or rather who; the Princess and her friends. "Those sure are some pretty ladies right there. TOO BAD THEY DON'T GIVE A SINGLE DAMN ABOUT YOU! NOW GET DOWN AND DO THEM PUSHUPS!"

I made my way back to the middle to look at the progress of the men so far. These men may have been the so called best of the Fire Nation, but they sure had a ways to go to if they were going to be considered the best of the best.

AZULA'S POV

I strutted down the hallways with Ty Lee and Mai following behind. Ty Lee suggested we go for a walk around the palace and against my better judgment I decided to agree with the idea. Ty Lee was blabbering on about something as she started to run ahead. I was in deep thought when she stopped and I promptly ran into her. "Ty Lee what do you think you are doing by just stopping randomly!" She either ignored me or was too excited; she was in her own world again, mesmerized by the stupidest things. She came out of her stupor and pointed at something in the middle of the courtyard.

"Oh my god guys look! It's Austin and it looks like he's training those guards you were talking about Azula." I proceeded to look over and she was in fact correct. Though I didn't quite understand why this was such a big ordeal to her.

"Yea he's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing, how fascinating." Mai stated in her most deadpan voice. I never fully understood why she is so dull towards life lately, must have something to do with Zuko randomly leaving her.

"Yea but he's glistening from the hard work out, and just look at him take charge over everybody else, it's so captivating." _Ty Lee and her obsession over boys, I swear it will be the death of me. _But as I looked over I noticed that my cheeks stated to turn as red as the fire that comes out of my hands. This however, did not go unnoticed.

"Ooh look, Azula's blushing." Ty Lee said as she continued to stare at the worldly visitor. _What me, no, I never blush. _"That is preposterous Ty Lee; I never blush, certainly not at someone who looks like… like, that." I admit I don't know how to act very well towards boys, especially after that incident with Chan, but I was certainly not going to take a liking to this new foreigner. As I said this I saw him go over to one of the soldiers, who was in fact Yao Li, not very surprising, he's a good fighter but an idiot when it comes to his mouth, and said some things, however, I only heard him say one thing but it shocked me to my core. "Those sure are some pretty ladies…" _Did he just call me pretty?_

"Aww, you hear that Azula? He thinks we're pretty." I could tell this was going straight Ty Lee's head. All a boy had to do was say something nice to her and she was on them like white on rice.

"Yes I heard what he said, it's not like it means anything to me." I spat out like I didn't care but my facial expression said otherwise. Hoping they didn't see anything I quickly put my normal, serious, face on. Even though I was born lucky it seemed that luck was not on my side when it came to dealing with these two.

"ATTEN-HUT!" The soldiers snapped to solute as I took charge once again. "ALRIGHT MAGGOTS LISTEN UP! UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE OUT OF TIME FOR TODAY." As the last sentence left my mouth I heard a few sighs of reliefs. "WHAT WAS THAT! DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO UTTER A BREATH!"

"SIR, NO SIR!"

"Good, now as I was saying before I was so brutally interrupted, you have escaped my merciful punishment for today. You are to report back here tomorrow at 0900. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" The men shouted in unison like a well-oiled machine. _We might be getting somewhere._

"GOOD. DISMISSED!" And with that the soldiers relaxed, taking a collective sigh of relief as they took their gear and headed out for the rest of their day. _It's only just begun. Wait until you see what I have in store for you._

"DISMISSED!" Is he done already? That was fast. Then again he wasn't given much time.

"Ooh look guys, he's done. Let's go talk to him." She sounded like a five year old on Christmas morning. "Ty Lee I do-," but it was too late. Before I even got the chance to finish Ty Lee was already dragging us towards him. _It's alright, don't make yourself seem stupid, you can do this. Wait, what am I saying, of course I have this, I am perfect after all._

"Hey Austin how's it going with the whole training thing?" How she is able to talk so comfortably and freely with boys I have not a clue.

"Oh hey. It's going pretty good. It's nice to be on the other end for once. I didn't think I was going to be good on the whole scare factor, but I guess it just comes to you as you go." He looked tired from the physical punishment even though he was running it, yet happy to see us, as if he wanted companionship and someone to talk to.

"Well if you want to scare them so bad you should have just got Azula to do it. She's scarier than anybody here." I glared daggers at Ty Lee. Sure I'm terrifying and proud of that but he doesn't need to know that. If looks could kill she would have been dead minutes ago, but lucky for her she was looking the other way.

All he did was just laugh and smile, probably thinking it was just a joke of some sort. "I'll keep that in mind. So what's up?" He reminded me much of Ty Lee with his carefree attitude and his sense of humor.

"Well we were just walking around and decided to go get some lunch. Do you want to come with us?" I wasn't quite sure if I wanted him to come or not so I quickly responded without giving him a chance. "Ty Lee I'm sure Austin has much better-" "Sure I'd love to come. Just give me a second to pack up." He surprised me with his answer yet again, but at the same time putting a sliver of a smile on my face. "You will! Ok great!"

As soon as we sat down at the table, Ty Lee bombarded me with questions and comments about everything. "Ty Lee you need to relax. You're talking too fast. Take it from the top again." She was funny and cute, but sometimes she talked way too much for her own good.

"Ok I think I've calmed down. First off we never got to finish our conversation from earlier so I want to know more about you. Do you have a family and what are they like?" I knew this question would come up eventually so might as well answer them now.

"To answer your question, yes, I do have a family though they're not proud of me and I don't think they love me. You see I never really knew my father that well, he left my mom when I was only a young kid. From then on out I had to take care of my mom and little brother and sister the best I could. My mom always told me that education was always important to a better future, but how was I supposed to help them when I was taking up their money. So when I graduated school I went straight into the Marine Corps, a military branch in our nation, in order to help pay bills for my mom. She and my sister were devastated and upset, my brother was so angry with me he didn't even show up to see me off or at my graduation. That was the last time I saw any of them and they must be heartbroken now that I'm missing. I just want to go back to hold them and tell them that everything is going to be alright." By the time I finished I was nearly in tears, but a friendly hug from the nicest person I met in this crazy place helped me keep my composure.

"Hey look at me, it's going to be okay. You're gonna make back home to your family I promise. And you know what, they're really proud of you it's just that their anger is getting in the way. Just remember, they're family and no matter what you do, they will always love you. Everything's going to be okay you just got to trust me." I don't know how she did it but she managed to calm me down. The most frantic and energetic person I know is also able to calm down and comfort me in my time of need. A simply remarkable person to say the least.

"You know what you're right. Thanks Ty Lee I needed that. But enough about me, what about your guys' families?" Though they wanted to learn more about my life, I was also curious about their lives.

"Well I'm kind of in the same boat as you. You see when I was younger I lived with six sisters who all looked exactly like me. It was like I didn't have my own identity, I didn't want this life of being part of a match set so I joined the circus. I was then picked up by Azula and the rest is history." And I thought I had it tough, the poor girl left the protection of her family at such a young age.

"How tragic, I don't think I would've had the courage to do that, my family was so important to me. What about you Azula, you must have an interesting family being the princess and all." A smirk rose on her face as she prepared to answer my question, I knew this was going to be an entertaining story.

"Well it's quite simple actually. I was born lucky and am the daughter and favorite child of the Fire Lord as you know. My mother hated me and killed my grandfather after she found out that my father was supposed to kill my younger brother Zuko, whom Mai is in love with. She was banished never to be seen again. After, my brother spoke up in a war meeting like the idiot he is where he was sent to an Agni Kai and shortly thereafter was banished from the nation never to return without his honor. _Geez and I thought my family had some issues. Hers is seriously messed up._

"Okay then, that is quite the interesting tale. I'm not quite sure on how to respond to that. Anyways, what about you, the dark and gloomy one, Mai is it?" She hated the world and there was probably a good reason for it.

"Yes it's Mai, and why would you like to know? If you must know, I am an only child born to a noble family and given everything I wanted as long as I behaved and stayed quiet. Some say this is the result of my personality as later I would practice throwing knives into the wall for the fun of it. I later attended Royal Fire Academy for Girls where I met these two. That's about all you need to know." Mai obviously sounded irritated with answering the question and probably dreaded opening up like that. No wonder she is so emotionally detached; it seems like every single child with strict parents becomes a rebel.

"How very intriguing. Well I wish to continue our conversation, but I must be on my way to see my personal instructor for the afternoon." I was finally going to get some answers on this whole firebending ordeal and gain insight on the Fire Nation and I couldn't wait.

"Ooh I know, why don't you have Azula be your firebending teacher. She's really good at it and could probably teach you a lot of moves." While that would be interesting I don't think it would be for the best.

"That sounds like that could be a good idea but Azula's father already said that this man was the best firebender around and it would be my honor to be his pupil. Sorry, maybe next time." I didn't want to be mean to her but I wanted someone who was extremely experienced and knowledgeable, not a teenager who is about the same age as me. Yet, when I saw a look of hurt in her eyes for that brief second, I wish that I could have taken it back. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance as Azula beat me to it.

"It's fine, I didn't want to be your teacher anyways. You wouldn't have been the right student for me anyways." With that she stormed out of the room quickly followed by Ty Lee spewing out a series of apologies. _I guess now would be the time for me to leave. _I then left the room and headed to find my educator of wisdom and knowledge.

I made my way around the palace until I found an old mad meditating on a mat. He looked like he was deep in thought, yet waiting for someone at the same time. Then it hit me that this was the man who would be my instructor.

"Excuse me sir, but are you the man who is supposed to be my teacher for the afternoon. I was told by Ozai to seek someone of great knowledge and wisdom of the Fire Nation that would teach me the secrets of firebending to unlock my potential." He just sat there continuing to meditate without acknowledging me or even looking up. After a few moments he opened his eyes and began to speak.

"That is correct, I am the man you are seeking for. I am Master Jeong Jeong and you are late." I remember hearing this man's name before but I do not recall where from exactly.

"I apologize Master, I was not told the time of when to find you but I promise it will not happen again." I was humble to be in his presence and knew that I was taking precious time out of his schedule.

"Very well then, we will begin your training. We will start with the knowledge of the history of this great nation and then we will eventually move to physical training. First we must educate your mind, then we can educate your body." Just from the way he spoke I knew this man knew more about the history of the people and the art of firebending than anyone else.

"Thank you Master, it is my honor to be your humble student." I bowed as I said this and sat down. I watched plenty of movies and TV shows to know when and how you are to show your master respect.

"We are to start from the beginning. Long ago the world was whole, no nations dividing it up. But as time moved on, so did the people. Different cultures and races started to spring up and eventually it became as you know it today; four nations of different people. Now there weren't always benders you see, over time the people adapted to the land to use the element that came to them. Much like the earthbenders with badger-moles, we learned the bending of our element, which as you know is fire, from the dragons. Great leaders and wise elders learned how to manipulate the element of fire after years of studying and were eventually able to learn how to shoot it out of their bodies. You see, many of the overzealous and arrogant firebenders will tell you that firebending comes from hatred and anger, but this is not the case. In order to unlock your full potential you must ask yourself, why do you wish to become a firebender? And, what do you hope to accomplish from doing so? Lastly I leave you with this."

The great man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wooden token, much like that of a checker piece. "What is this master?"

"That my young pupil is a pai sho piece with the painting of the white lotus flower on it. You must not tell anybody that you have this and you are to show it to no one. Is that understood?" The conviction in his eyes was as clear as day and as he placed it in my hand I could feel the texture of it, worn down, like it had survived for hundreds of years.

"Yes master I understand completely, I will not tell a living soul. But what does it mean?" I desperately wanted to know what it meant.

"That is for you to find out on your own. When the time comes it will reveal itself to you. That is all for today, nature is calling and I believe you better answer it." He said as a chuckle escaped his mouth as he completed his last sentence just as a large growl came from my stomach. It amazed me that someone with such great knowledge could also be so humorous. _I wonder if there are any others like him?_

I rose and bowed to him as I spoke, "yes Master, thank you for your wisdom." With that I left the room and headed to meet the Fire Lord to eat dinner and meet with his generals.

I stepped into the royal dining hall and promptly spotted Ozai sitting next to his highest ranked officers eating his meal. I assumed that he was always in his war room when he talked with these men, or just in there throughout the entire day, but he must have really wanted to learn what was going on to require that I meet with him for dinner. As I made my way over to his table he spotted me and motioned for me to sit down with him.

"Austin I trust that you had a productive day today." I nodded my head in response. "Good, good, now tell me how it went?" He looked curious and yet indifferent at the same time, like he only wanted to hear certain news that would make his plans much better.

"Well the training of the elite guards went well today. They are only doing physical work such as running right now to build up their strength. I have to tear them down first before I can build them to be the best warriors. They have a lot of potential but it is still quite a ways to go before you can consider them to be the best of the best. As far as my own training with Master Jeong Jeong went, well, it went rather well. I am only learning history at the moment as he said I need to educate my mind before I can educate my body. So far I believe he is a wonderful teacher and I will gain a lot of knowledge from him." I left the part of the white lotus checker piece thing out of it because I was certain that Jeong Jeong did not want the Fire Lord to know about it.

"That is good news so far. I look forward to hearing more about your reports. I must return to my war room," _yea I thought so, _"so I am sending you back to your room. Goodbye Mr. Borne." Wow that certainly was a quick meeting, I barely had enough time to finish my food. Oh well, time for my favorite part of the day, sleep time.

I made my way into my room, threw my clothes into the hamper and laid down on the soft bed; but before I could go to sleep I had to do one last thing.

I kneeled beside the bed, clasping my hands together and put my elbows on the soft comforter. _"Dear Lord, first off I would like to thank you for another wonderful day of living. I'm not sure you can hear me all the way in this other world, but then again they say you work in magical ways. All I ask is that you watch over my family in my absence, make sure that Alex and Chloe are safe and taken care of well. If you could find a way for me to make it back to them and to be able to hold them one more time I would be forever in your debt. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen." _

**A/N: Well that is my longest story to date, almost twice as long as the previous chapter. I hope it didn't move too fast or too slow. The prayer part at the end was a little strange for me but I've been told a soldier of courage is a soldier of faith so I decided to throw that in there at the end. So please no flame for that. Otherwise I hoped you liked in and stay tuned for more. Until next time**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Alright guys I'm back. Sorry about the wait I try to update once a week and my schedule has been really chaotic lately. Anyways, this chapter is going to go back to the real world to start off. I know at times the characters may seem a little OOC but that's going to happen when you try to write a romance story for Azula. Oh yea; I don't own any of the characters besides my own, if I did I would be the happiest person alive, and I don't make any money off of this. Now on with the story!**

Mrs. Bourne stood in front of the sink, washing the dishes as she idly thought about recent events. She thought about her eldest son fighting in a war she didn't believe in and now how she was supposed to look after two young children. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a small black sedan pull up into the drive way. Her worst nightmare was confirmed when she saw men in military uniforms step out. She delicately opened the door and stood out on the porch. She waited there patiently as the men made their way towards the front door.

"Please tell me Austin is alright," she begged as the men drew clearer. The expressions on their faces gave way the seriousness of the situation but she still held out.

"Mam, I suggest you take a seat," one of the men answered back. This is no easy conversation and every mother dreads and fears the conversation that was about to take place.

As she slowly took her seat one of the men began to address her; "Mam, I truly regret to inform you that your son has been reported missing on the battlefield of Iraq. His body was never located and his current position is unknown; he is presumed dead. I am truly remorseful for your lost and I wish you the best in your endeavors." He had delivered the speech many a times before, but not matter how many times he delivered it, it was always an extremely difficult task to deliver the news that someone's child was killed.

"What do you mean they never found his body? How can they not find his body! You don't just disappear out of thin air!" She was now yelling at the top of her lungs at the men. She didn't know what happened to her son; all she knew was that they had no idea where he was, even if he was alive, and she demanded answers.

"Unfortunately we are not allowed to disclose that information to you mam." The third man of the group spoke. "That is confidential information but be rest assured that we are doing our very best to locate him."

"You damned well better be! That's my son you're talking about! You better be using everything in your power to bring him back or so help me god! I don't care if he's in another universe for Christ's sake, he better be coming home!" To say she was furious would be the understatement of the century and all the men could hope to do would be to attempt to calm her down for the meanwhile.

"I understand you anger miss and once again I am truly sorry for your lost. In his brief service he was an exceptional soldier. A service has been prepared for him in two weeks and we will notify you with more information over the course of these next few weeks. Once again, I am sorry for you loss." And with that the men made their way back to the vehicle to embark on another journey.

All Mrs. Bourne could do was just sit there and stare blankly into the beyond. She was numb; she felt nothing, she didn't know what to think, what to feel, her entire body and mind was paralyzed from the news she just received. At that moment her two kids, Chloe and Alex, came outside to see what all the commotion was about. They saw their mother just sitting there and were confused on what was going on.

"Mom what happened? Are you okay?" The elder of the two, Alex, asked.

"It's Aus… th ay e's ing." She replied back in a low mumble, barely audible for even herself to hear.

"What was that mom? We can't understand any of what you just said." The youngest Chloe asked her mom as she started to become frightened.

"I said it's Austin! Men from the military just showed up and told me he's missing! THEY THINK HE'S DEAD!" That was the final straw as she broke into hysterics. The two children just sat there, frightened at first, then stunned at what they heard. After letting the rash news settle in for a few moments, they finally realized what had happened.

"What he can't be dead! He promised me he would be there for me at my graduation!" Alex was both furious and heartbroken at the same time. Furious that his brother said he was going to be at his graduation and was no longer going to; heartbroken that his brother would be out of his life forever. He took off for his room, bitter at the world, leaving a trail of tears in his wake.

"He was supposed to call me on my birthday and sing to me!" Chloe started to break down in tears and headed for her room too.

All was left was Mrs. Bourne who remained dejected as she gazed upon the floor. She couldn't chase after her children and tell them it was going to be alright. It most certainly was not going to be alright. All she did was pray. She prayed for her son and hoped to god that he would be safe and find a way home.

_Flashback_

"_Grenade! Get Down!" One of the men shouted as they took for cover. The only problem was that one of them didn't hear him in time; this one was going to pay the price. The grenade rocked the Humvee they were taking cover behind and one soldier, one ungrateful soldier, was launched back. Yet at the same time a device that was previously held in a secure container was flung back from the vehicle, out of its protective case, and landed right next to the soldier. As it hit the ground it suddenly activated and with a quick burst of light both the man and the machine were gone._

_End Flashback_

Though he was transported into another dimension, only he who went there knew this, and the rest were wondering on where he went and how he got there. The soldiers who were serving with him were wondering this exact same thing at this exact same moment.

_Flashback_

_The soldiers of war rode the helicopter in silence as they made their way back to base. However, this silence didn't last very long as the men grew impatient with the answers they were getting, or lack thereof._

"_Okay, you want to tell me what the HELL happened back there!" Joseph Allen yelled as he broke the silence._

_The Lieutenant Colonel who was in charge of the operation just sat there in disbelief. "It wasn't supposed to go down like that." He started explaining to the rest of the men in the chopper. "It was supposed to be a simple delivery, that's it, no one knew about it."_

"_Alright Colonel, you want to me just what in the hell we were delivering?" Allen retorted as he pointed over his shoulder to a large empty crate that was formerly in the back of their Humvee. _

"_That's classified. I'm not allowed to divulge that information." Even though he said it with conviction the Captain wouldn't budge._

"_I suggest that if you want to keep your rank and your limbs you start answering some of our questions before things get ugly." Allen, like the rest of his squad, wanted, no, demanded to know what was going on and why they were ambushed._

"_Alright, alright, I'll tell you. You see it all started a few months back when some scientists came up with an idea to reach other dimensions, universes, if you will. This device known as the Transdimensional Vortex Inducer would be such a device that would bridge the gap between the two worlds and manually open these gates. This was the device that you were delivering to the top research facility."_

"_Wait hold up a second. Our mission wasn't a delivery; it was just another typical patrol." Staff Sergeant James Smith said as he interrupted the Colonel._

"_Yes that was the beauty of the plan. No one, not even the very men delivering the package, knew it was a delivery. It was going to be perfect where the scientists who received it could do more tests on it and eventually make it functional."_

"_Are you telling me that it was only in the testing stage?" Allen asked as he stood there in disbelief. How was something that was rumored to exist, in its primal testing stage, going to function perfectly from a simple grenade blast?_

"_That is correct Captain. How it managed to activate and teleport your friend I have not a clue." All was certain was that Austin was gone, and with it, the special device._

"_Do we know where he is or when he is going to get back?" Corporal Ryan Ramirez asked as he listened intently on the ongoing conversation._

"_Unfortunately, no. We have no way to tell where or even when he is. He could be 100 years in the past and in an entirely different dimension for all we know. Our only option is to wait and hope that he finds a way to return." As the last sentence sunk in the men became quiet yet again, praying that Austin would find a way back home._

**Fire Nation**

I tossed and turned in my sleep as the images of the war-torn nation of Iraq plagued my memory while the battle sequence kept replaying itself over and over again. I began to sweat profusely and suddenly awoke with a fright. Sweat was dripping down my body and I threw the covers off my body. _Whew, it was only just a dream. _But as I turned my head to my right I noticed that it wasn't just a dream, I was in some entirely different country. _Please God, just take me home away from this place. _Well I guess it's time to _carpe diem this mother father_ and get ready for my day at large. I opened the blinds to find out that it was an absolutely gorgeous day outside. _I think I'll go for a walk around town, err palace, whatever it's called. _After changing in to a new set of clothes that I found in a fancy dresser I left the room to embark on my journey. _Wait I almost forgot. _I quickly ran back inside to get the picture of my family that they sent me only a couple weeks ago and placed in under my jacket. _Now I'm ready to go. _After wandering the halls for a little bit I came across the maid whose duty was to wake me up.

"Good morning Mr. Bourne. How are you this morning?" she asked as I made my way near her.

"I am quite well this morning, thank you for asking. Lovely day we're having isn't it?" I responded as I closed the last distance between us until we were only a few feet apart.

"Indeed it is so far. Let's hope it remains this way for the rest of the day. Oh, I almost forgot, your plate has been prepared for you in the dining hall." She quickly added in before I took off for the day.

"Thank you, but tell them I will not be joining them this morning. I have decided to go for a walk around the palace and will venture in to the town." And with that I made my way down to the courtyard where I stood outside for a few brief seconds soaking in the sun before I began my small adventure.

"It's going to be a great day, I just feel it" I thought aloud as I began my way towards the village. If only I knew how wrong I was.

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter and mostly non-Avatar story for this chapter guys. I just felt that I had to put something out there for making you guys wait so long. I also wanted to fill in what was happening in the real world and provide background information on how he wound up in the Avatar world. I was originally going to make this one chapter but decided to break it up instead of a really long chapter that would have been like 9,000 words. In case you didn't pick up on it the Transdimensional Vortex Inducer (TVI) was an allusion to my favorite Disney Channel show, **_**Kim Possible. **_**Anyways, that about sums it up so stay tuned! Until next time **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: First off, I would like to take a moment and thank all of those who wrote reviews. Reviews inspire me to continue writing and help with the production and writing of the story in itself. Anyways, here is my latest installment; enjoy!**

I made my way in to town; I wasn't really sure of what I wanted to do, but I knew that when the time came I would surely spot it. I perused idly through the shops looking at different wares and products merchants were trying to sell me when I spotted her. There, only feet away from me, stood the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes upon. She had long brown hair, eyes as golden as the sun, and a smile that could light up the night sky. I knew I had to talk to her, the only question was how; let's face it; my social skills weren't the best, in fact far from it. I slowly made my way over to where she stood when she spotted me. _Crap! Well it's too late to back out of it now._

"Hi, how are you?" I said meekly as I started up a conversation with the goddess of a being in front of me. I was visibly shaking; fighting dozens of soldiers in an ambush, no problem, talking to beautiful women, or women in general for that matter, now that's a different story.

"I'm fine thanks for asking. How are you?" she just smiled and replied back in a caring manner. She went back to looking through the clothing like this wan an everyday occurrence, which it probably was.

"I'm good. So… uh… you… uh work here?" _Nailed it._

"Yes; on the weekends I help out my father with his shop by selling clothing. Would you like to buy something?" Ah-hah so there was a catch! Or maybe not; it looked like she was being genuinely nice.

"That's cool. I would but unfortunately I don't have any money with me. Maybe next time I stop by." I replied in as cool and collective of a voice as I could manage, though, I don't think it came out quite like I planned.

"Oh, so you're coming to stop by again?" she playfully asked as she continued to survey her clothing hanging throughout the shop.

"Yes of course," _have you seen yourself lately! _"that's if it's okay with you?" I ushered in as I quickly added that last part of the sentence. Sweat was rushing down both sides of my face; I tried to cover my nervousness but was unsuccessful in my latest attempts.

She giggled when she heard my response and in a sing-song manner replied back; "why wouldn't it be okay? This is a shop after all" I visibly paled when I heard that response; like a deer caught in headlights, I stood frozen in place.

"Yea that makes sense." I said as I started scratching the back of my neck. I pretended to look down at my wrist and check the time as if they had watches here. "Would you look at the time? I really must be going." I hurriedly said as I started to make my way when she called out for me, effectively bringing me back into our conversation.

"Wait! Here, I want you to have this," she said as she handed me a dazzling red and gold kimono with a dragon insignia tattooed on the back.

It was magnificent to say the least; I didn't know what to think of it. All I knew was that I couldn't dare accept such an astonishing gift.

"I'm really sorry but I can't accept such a wonderful gift." I responded as I started to hand it back to her. However, she would have none of it and refused to take it back.

"No I insist; you don't look like you're from around here anyways," she said as she motioned to the clothes I was wearing. "Think of it as a parting gift, until we meet again." She smiled blissfully as the words came out of her mouth.

"That's very kind of you… uhm… I'm sorry, what was your name again?" I hesitantly asked as I started to take the gift back from her.

"My name is Kori. Oh, wait before you leave, will you please tell me your name as well?" She quickly asked as she took hold of my arm.

"Yea sure, it's uh…" I couldn't tell her my real name and have her become suspicious of me. "It's uh…" I looked around for something to help me and that's when I spotted a sign, literally, _Kuzon's Wears, _so I went with it. "Kuzon, yea that's it! My name is Kuzon." I finally said as I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Well it was nice meeting you Kuzon. I'll see you around some time." With that she went back to her work and I made my way back to the palace to hold up my end of the deal.

I made my way into the courtyard where I would begin to instruct these so called great warriors on the art of war yet again. _Good, _I smirked to myself; _they're all here and on time; progress already._

* * *

"ALRIGHT LADIES ATTEN HUT!" I shouted and they immediately snapped to attention being already drilled into their minds. "Today we are going to go through Day 2 of Hell Week. I hope you all left your stomachs at home because yesterday was just the nice, simple warm-up. Let's start off with a ten mile run." After letting out a small moan the troops began their run. Lucky for them they weren't going through what I had otherwise a simple run like this would be the least of their worries.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH! This is where we are going to stop and do the exercises for the day!" I bellowed out over the group of men running as they made they came to a sudden halt. We were at the summit of Mt. Kagawa, a beautiful location for a nice hike, or in our case, a training facility.

"Beautiful place isn't it? Too bad that's all about to change. Today is where we begin endurance training as a team; a single unit if you will. Now I was told for some reason to pass my limited knowledge of military tactics down on to you. Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth I gladly accepted. Luck for you all I am a MASTER in the art of pain and suffering. Pick a partner and let's get started." As I finished my mini monologue they began to split off. They still weren't ready to begin actual military training in my mind, but they were getting there.

The training went well and rather smoothly for the most part; occasionally I would have to get right in some people's faces to "motivate" them more; all in all, the endurance training was a success. I was brought out of my thoughts with the sound of ten gongs going off, signaling the time of day as well as the approaching end of my special time with the these men.

"Sir, the gongs signal that there is only one hour left until we are needed back in the palace; shouldn't we start to head back so we can arrive on time?" One of the soldiers asked in a timid tone, knowing full well what the consequences could be.

"GOD DAMN IT TURD! DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK TO ME, LET ALONE ASK ME A QUESTION!" I turned to face him as I finished chewing him out and met his eyes with a glare of daggers.

"Sir, no sir!" He quickly replied, shaken up from the intense yelling I had just delivered upon him.

_Good, _I smirked to myself, _it looks like we might be getting somewhere after all. _"No I did not! Why don't you let me worry about the time and you just keep on focusing on trying to hold in your breakfast. And because of your outburst, everyone here owes me two hundred sit-ups and one hundred push-ups; the right way Chang! What are you waiting for! MOVE MOVE MOVE!" By the time I finished they dropped what they were doing and went to the ground to do their work; letting out grunts and 'thanks a lot Yao' as they began their extra punishment.

After a few minutes they got back up, the looks of anguish ever present on their faces. "Alright, listen up! I guess we are done for today as we are already running late; I'll let you to deal with that individually wherever you are to report to next. In the meanwhile pack up, we're heading back down to base." After I finished delivering the speech they grabbed their gear and started to slowly make their way back down to camp.

"THIS ISN'T SOME WALK IN THE PARK WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND! LET'S PICK IT UP! MOVE MOVE MOVE!" At first they were hesitant to pick up their pace; however, a fireball launched at their feet proves to be a good motivator.

An hour and a half later we made our way back to the starting point yet again. Though it wasn't the pace and the endurance I demand out of my elite troops, it was still a fairly quick pace. "ALRIGHT LADIES LISTEN UP! That wasn't too bad for today though some of you have a ways to go! For some ungodly reason I have decided to take extremely merciful action towards you and allow actual training with weapons and sparring" The soldiers lit up when I said this knowing that their lives might just get better. "However, however, training will now begin two hours earlier and we will start having two training sessions each day. THAT IS ALL, DISMISSED!" Following the dismissal the small group of men grabbed their gear and headed out to their next task. When I was finally alone I decided that I would hit the market again to maybe find a meal that was as delicious as my meal earlier that morning. And if I were to meet Kori again… well then that would be just a bonus.

* * *

I made my way through the maze of different stands and vendors trying to sell me their curios and other artifacts; I had already eaten and amazing meal but I was still curious to look around and see what people were selling. I was musing at some weapons in an armory when I heard a loud high pitch female shriek. Thinking that I had to find the source of the horrific noise I dropped what I was doing and hastily made my way to where I thought the noise came from.

After traveling for a little while I came across a dark alleyway where I saw a shady group of guys standing around in a circle. I couldn't understand what was going on, but then I heard a frail voice speak up, "no please, don't do this to me." The voice was pleading with them and I could tell it was that of a female's.

"Relax sweet cheeks; this is only going to hurt a little bit." I heard one of them say as they started to advance towards the girl. I knew what was about to go down and I had to stop them before they could achieve their goal.

"Hey why don't you leave the girl alone." I called out hoping to get their attention. It worked as all three of them turned to face me.

"Hey pal why don't ya mind your own business and leave us alone." Another called back as I started to make my move towards them.

"The welfare of innocent girls is my business. Why don't you just leave the girl and wander off. I don't want anyone here to get hurt." Though I don't know if I necessarily agree with it, my training means that my body is a deadly weapon and gives me an unfair advantage over common criminals; whether you agree with it or not something needed to be done to save this hopeless girl.

"I bet you wouldn't. Get 'em boys." As soon as he finished the statement one of the thugs lunged at me with a knife; he was clearly inexperienced and looked like he didn't know how to hold the weapon so I quickly disarmed him and sent him flying into a wall where hopefully he was smart enough to stay down. The next thug came after me with a chain. He swung it twice at me and after easily dodging both attempts I kicked out and sent him down to the ground with a large thud. He got back up again when I promptly sent a punch to his face knocking him out cold.

I turned to face the final thug, the leader of the group, and tried to reason him into surrendering. "Look man; I just took out two of your buddies like it was nothing; why don't we just call it a day and you head back on home and we forget this ever happened." I tried to reason with the crazy man but that never seems to do anything. Just like I predicted he didn't want any of it.

"I don't think so. Those guys were just a distraction, I'm the real deal." With that he lunged at me with his hidden blade. I narrowly dodged the first attack but wasn't quite lucky enough as his fist landed into my ribcage. I spat in response but this guy was not going to win that easily. After dodging and blocking a few more of his attacks, I saw my chance and went for it. I landed two quick blows, one on his solar plexus and one on his ribcage, hopefully incapacitating him. I was about to make my way over to the girl when he stood up and threw a knife at my head. It barely missed and I hit him in the jaw, more than likely breaking it. Just as I dodged the projectile, I heard a loud scream.

"NO!" I turned around to see the source of the voice when I spotted none other than Kori. I was wondering what she was doing here when I saw her rush over to the smaller girl, who I realized at that moment, had a knife in her lower stomach. I wanted to go after the retreating thugs to give them their rightful punishment but decided to help out the poor girl instead.

I rushed over there to see what was going on and what I could do. As I approached them I saw the blood start to come out of the girl's stomach and Kori crying over her. "Kori?" I hesitantly asked as I drew near.

"Kuzon? Kuzon! Please Kuzon, please do something to save my sister." That's when I realized why Kori was so worried about the girl. I saw the pleading in her eyes and knew I had to something to save her. _Dammit! If only I had my medic pouch with me._

"Alright, I'll try my best. What I'm going to need you to do is to first take out the knife." I saw the worried look in the younger girl's eye but this had to be done. "Look I know you don't want it to happen but it's the only way if you want to live." She hesitantly nodded so I continued. "Next, I'm going to need you to apply as much pressure as you can to the wound while covering it up. I'm going to bandage the wound but it will only be temporary; we're going to need to find a healer so that her wound can be fully patched up." Kori nodded and I tore off one of my sleeves to be used as a makeshift bandage.

"Okay, on three. One… two… THREE!" The knife was swiftly removed and Kori applied pressure with all the strength she could muster almost instantaneously. Immediately after I applied the bandage around the wound, making it as tight as possible. After doing so I picked up the girl bridal style and took off for the nearest healer.

We found one shortly thereafter, and luckily for us we were able to get her the care she needed right away. After she was taken out of my custody a healer came out and told us that a lot was going to be done, but she was going to be alright. Kori in the meanwhile just broke down, letting everything out that she had been holding in since the attack. I was unsure of what to do given my lack of relationships with women so I did the only thing I could think of and hold her, bringing her in close to me.

She let it all out but then stopped to look up at me. Her eyes were read from the crying though the tears had since stopped. "Kuzon I want to thank you all for what you have done for me and my sister. But, I need you to leave right now." I was shocked to say the least. _I just save your sister's life and you want me to leave!_

"Why do you want me to leave?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't comprehend the situation but I was fairly certain she needed someone to look after her in her moment of need.

"Look it's not you okay. I just… it's complicated. You see, me and my sisters are refugees. We're not supposed to be here and if we get caught we'll be banished. I don't want you to get in trouble too. It's for the best if you just please leave now." If one thought I was stunned before, this was a whole new level. I didn't know what to think or do so I just decided to comply with her request.

"Goodbye Kuzon, good luck with wherever your life may take you." She hugged me then left for the room that her sister was in; knowing full well what was about to happen to both of them.

I waited until she left the room before I responded back to her. "Goodbye Kori" I whispered as I left the building to begin my arduous trip back to the palace.

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait; I've been really busy with a lot of things lately. I know it's not quite what you expected but I hope it isn't too horrible. The story is going to focus mainly around Austin's journey but it will turn into a romance between him and Azula I promise, so just wait! If you want a romance between the two characters you're going to have to hold out for a little longer. Anyways, please review and let me know what you think. Until next time**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Okay guys, I'm back! This time the main character finally gets to meet the Gaang; what shenanigans are inbound and what will happen to our lead man? Not sure if I have to mention this every so often or not; but, I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender yada yada yada. Without further ado, I present you the latest installment of The Great Journey, enjoy!**

_Six days, that's how long it's been since that faithful event. Man, it's hard to believe that I've been in this strange world for a week already. I thought for sure that I would have found a way to make it back home already. Oh well, I just have to keep trying; eventually I'll get home, right? _

_Things progressed as they normally would have; every day I woke up, went to the market to get food and look around at useless curios; trying to fill a void that I didn't know existed. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get her out of my head. I mean, who leads you on like that then just disappears out of your life like that? Within a day too! Anyways, I guess it's time to go train the troops again; I'm not really sure why Ozai wants me to do this when I could serve so many better purposes, but, I guess he has his reasons._

_Austin – Day 7_

I made it into the training facility out of habit almost as I wasn't thinking of what I was doing; rather I was just going through the motions. When I arrived there, they were lined up; in order I might add, ready for inspection and to begin the training. It's funny; all it took was some special motivation and some bonding time and it seemed that they would follow me into Hell. Ah who was I kidding, they probably just wanted to survive their own personal Hell; still, they were a good group of guys and if I can say I got anything out of being forced into this place it's that I got to meet some regular old Joes just like me.

"Alright boys listen up! Today we are going to be doing one-on-one combat scenarios so that you can prepare yourself for actual battle situations. While you may be excellent firebenders; you are less than competent at hand-to-hand combat; but don't worry, we're going to fix that. You're probably asking yourselves 'why would we need to know this, we have firebending. While that is true, what happens if you get your bending taken away, or if you get close enough that it becomes pointless? That is why you guys are going to learn from the best. NOW PARTNER UP!"

After they paired up and I instructed them on some advanced moves on how to combat an attacker, I made my way around to inspect each pairing, making sure they were doing everything correctly down to a t. "Good Chang just like that. Lee stay low and keep your stance nice and strong; much better, keep it up." They were becoming excellent at disarming an opponent and throwing them to the ground but a few just couldn't nail it. "Alright Yao what seems to be the problem here." I sighed as I saw him on the ground.

"I don't know sir. Every time I try to flip him over my shoulder, I trip and he falls on top of me."

"Alright listen, I want you to show me what you do, step-by-step, and I'm going to tell you why you suck and how you are a failure. Then you can work on it and maybe not be a complete screw up." I finished my rant as he got up and prepared to diligently go through the motions of his counterattack.

"Alright, stop stop stop! Your problem is that your foot is too wide and your stance is too high; you're weak and easy to knock over, like this" I said as I pushed him over with the slightest of ease. "You need to bring your feet closer to together, bend down lower, and keep a nice and steady stance. That way you don't trip yourself and knock yourself over, causing your own demise and bringing shame to your entire family. Now, try it again!"

This time around it was flawless, better than what I expected, as he disarmed the assailant and threw him onto the ground in one fluid motion. "Not bad Turd, there might be use of you yet. Now do it again, this time, better!" As I finished yelling at him I made my way to the other troops to inspect them on their training. I had to have my scapegoat, and fortunately for me, it was easy to spot. I couldn't completely tear down what he had for self-esteem otherwise he would have no confidence; but, I couldn't praise him either, otherwise it would go straight to his head.

As I made my way around I noticed three, very distinctive, feminine figures making their way towards me. _Great, what is it now? _They quickly spotted me and I had no choice but to engage them in conversation.

I was greeted by a series of hellos, or a somewhat variation of it anyways. "Hey Austin," Ty Lee said in her usual bubbly over-excited tone. "Austin" Azula stated like she was acknowledging my existence. "Hi" Mai said in her always consistent monotone voice.

"Ty Lee, Azula, nice to see you. Mai, a pleasure as always." I replied in a mock happy response.

"Whatever," she responded back in her deadpanned voice. _Seriously, what is up with her, does she hate life?_

"And what can I do for you lovely ladies on a nice day such as this."

"We need your help," Ty Lee giggled in return.

"We request your assistance in finding the Avatar given your track record of locating people that wish to not be found." Azula retorted as she glared into my eyes.

"If you are referring to my job as a soldier in finding the insurgents then yes, you would be correct, I do have a good track record in that department. Ah yes the leader of the rebel alliance as you referred to him earlier. Sure I'll help, but let me ask you this; does he have a wookie and dead Jedi helping him out?" I barely managed to get the last sentence in without laughing.

"What on earth are you talking about" Azula shot back, clearly annoyed by my response.

"It's nothing, seriously, don't worry about." I managed to utter. "It's an inside thing, you wouldn't understand."

"Right, well when you are done acting like an imbecile, well you assist us on our quest." Azula was legitimately mad and seemed to be getting impatient with me.

"Is the Pope Catholic?" I asked back.

"Once again, what are you talking about?" Her patience was getting thin so I decided to just stop before I ended up dead.

"Right… I guess you wouldn't… understand that one… either. Anyways, yea I'm ready, let's go."

* * *

We were in some sort of Fire Nation tank as we made our way towards tracking down and capturing this leader of some sort of rebellion when Azula brought me out of my thoughts yet again.

"Would you care to tell me why you are dressed like that and what you are carrying?"

_Ugh, not again. _"Alright for the tenth time I am wearing my Battle Dress Uniform. I know it's a weird pattern; it's called camouflage and it's the only thing I have on me that I would wear into battle. I am carrying a vest that contains water and medical supplies as well as an assortment of other various things that could come in handy to us later on. Does that answer your questions?" I tried not to sound irritated but it was hard when someone was constantly pandering you with questions.

"You didn't need to get all worked up about it. Besides, I was not referring to what you were carrying, rather the lack thereof; where is your magical fire stick."

"Well first off it's called a firearm, or as it is more commonly referred to, a gun. Second, it requires ammunition to fire otherwise it is virtually useless; something that I ran out of when you guys attacked me. Third-" but I never got to finish as the tank in front of us blew up into a great fireball and ours was thrown into a tree.

"What the hell was that!" I shouted as I tried to regain my bearings. It was a little difficult at first but I managed to regain my composer as I had faced the same situation many times before.

"Take a wild guess!" Azula shouted back as she stood up, fixing her hair for some strange reason.

All four of us managed to make it out of the destroyed vehicle fine and were faced by six… teenagers? "Wait are you telling me the leader of this great rebellion and his friends are all a bunch of kids?" I asked in disbelief.

"Hey I'm not a kid, I'm fourteen!" the one with the ponytail shouted

"Hello Azula," one of them with a nasty scar on the side of his face spat.

"Hello Zuzu," she returned with equal hatred.

"Wait, you two know each other?" I asked in disbelief once again.

"Of course we do, we are brother and sister after all." She replied without breaking eye contact with her brother.

That was the straw the broke the camel's back so to say. "HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA HOLD UP! HOLD UP! You mean to tell me that you guys are siblings! And he, the Prince of the Fire Nation, is trying to destroy it!" Things just made absolutely no sense to me. Well they never really did, but now I was super confused.

"Yes I know, disgusting isn't it? My own brother, heir to the throne, tries to destroy his own nation!" I could sense some sibling rivalry to say the least.

"She hasn't told you the whole story has she, foreigner! I knew it; leave it to her to manipulate everything around her, even an innocent bystander who has no idea what he's getting in to!"

"Yea listen, I'm just going to let you settle whatever differences you two have. Besides, I don't think I could fight a bunch of kids anyways." I started to back away but I had to hastily duck as a good size boulder nearly took off my head.

"What was that bonehead! Yea wouldn't want to get your butt whooped by a girl and a bunch of kids now would ya! I can understand why you're scared; I wouldn't want to face a big bad bender like myself either." A littler girl that was maybe half my size with short black hair was taunting me like she had already won a big fight. Well let me tell you something; that was not to go about unnoticed.

"Oh it's on," I hissed as I shot a fireball at her head. It caught her by surprise and she nearly obtained a third degree burn to her face. _Hmm, _I smirked to myself, _I guess those daily trainings with Master Jeong Jeong paid off. _

The battle ensued for what must have been fifteen minutes but seemed like an hour. We were fighting strong and pushing them back; but everything changed when the Appa attacked. Appa was the name of the giant air beast, or so I think it is as the bald kid with the arrows on his head called him. I thought we were about to win the skirmish when a giant beast swooped down and, with a great air wave, sent us all flying back. While we were momentarily stunned, they hopped on his back and took to the skies, effectively evading capture. We managed to salvage what was left from the tank, and with some excellent bending by the Princess and yours truly, we were back on our way to the palace.

* * *

The ride back was boring and uneventful; we sat there in silence, not really sure of what to say. However, when we would arrive back at the palace I would obtain the answers I demanded.

After a short while we finally arrived back at the palace. I was about to pander Azula for some questions but was met with Ozai coming down harshly on her. As soon as we made it out of the vehicle his rage bore down on her like a tiger on its prey. I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do, until he finished harassing her and left for his private quarters.

As soon as he left I was on her like white on rice. "Okay so you want to tell we what in the mighty god that was between you and your brother!" I demanded as she turned to face me with rage.

"You want to tell me why you are still obsessed with that stupid peasant girl!" She shot back.

"Not that it's any of your business; but it's hard to forget someone that just walked out of your life when you barely got to know them!" I shot back with just as much anger.

"Yea well maybe you should forget her and just move on. She wasn't important anyways!"

"Azula, come on, you don't mean that" Ty Lee said as she tried to intervene.

"No, Ty Lee she's right; but at least I can admit it and move on." I spat over in Azula's direction.

"Whatever," was all she said as she made her way back in to the palace to her room.

* * *

I lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep, knowing full well what the cause of my sleep deprivation was. For some reason I could never go to bed angry; I always had to make peace with those I upset in order to achieve a peaceful slumber. I sat there, lying perfectly still for a few minutes contemplating what I wanted to do, when I decided that I had to make things right again. I made my way down the hallway attempting to find which one was Azula's room when I saw a feint glow emanating from underneath the door of one of the rooms. _Giant doors with elegant carvings on them, this has to be it._

I knocked on the door before I spoke quietly: "Azula listen I-"

"You couldn't sleep either." Was the response I heard that cut me off.

"Yea, me neither; is it okay if I come in?" I asked in a soft manner.

"Yes you may enter." Was all she said back.

I slowly opened the door and crawled inside. It was a magnificent room with beautiful draperies and furniture everywhere. There she stood, sitting up in a giant bed, just staring at me, waiting for me to come to her. I sat down at the foot of her bed and began my apology.

"Look Azula, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for the way I behaved earlier. I was out of line and I hope you can forgive me for my actions." I kept my head down, unwilling to make eye contact with her.

"I suppose I could let it slide, though you should know that you should never speak to royalty that way, especially to me." Typical was all I could muster to that response.

"Duly noted. Isn't there something you wish to say, maybe an apology or something along those lines?"

"I am not going to apologize for I have nothing to apologize for and that is final." I guess there was no reaching through to her tonight.

"Well goodnight Azula." I started to make my way through the door when she interrupted me.

"She never loved me; she always loved him more." I was confused by her response but tried to see if I could get her to open up more.

"Wait, what?"

"My animosity towards Zuko, I think it partially stems from that. You see my mother thought I was a monster and always loved Zuko. He was the person that always got the love from others while I sacrificed myself to our kingdom. He got everything from her; true my dad despised him and thought I was a protégé, but he never really loved me. It's just that with the events going on lately and seeing him as a traitor on the enemy side, it reminds me of when he received all the love from my mother while I was forced to bear the pain and pressure from my father." That was a lot to take in and I knew that I had to let it sink in for a while before I could ask her to open up further.

"Wow Azula I had no idea your life was that rough, I'm sorry. Well sleep tight and I'll see you in the morning." I started to get up but a hand quickly shot out and grabbed my arm pulling me back down.

"Please don't go. Everyone in my life is leaving me, promise me you'll stay." This was something that I never expected from the high almighty princess. But hey, I guess even the most evil people on earth are human too. Not that she's the most evil person on earth, it's just that, well, never mind, you know what I mean.

"Don't worry Azula. I'm not going anywhere; I'm going to be right here all night." I laid down next to her on the soft blankets and laid my head on the pillow made of clouds as she snuggled closer in to me. This was a completely new side of her and I wasn't sure of what to expect. All I knew was that things were going to become very interesting.

**A/N: Okay so Austin finally made his first encounter with the Gaang; but don't worry it won't be his last. And we finally get to the part where the romance between the two begins. This is where the story starts to pick up in the romance portion. Oh yea, I almost forgot! The very first part in the beginning was a journal entry in case you didn't pick up on that. So yea that's it; please feel free to leave a review and stay tuned! Until next time **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Okay guys I am back, as usual. If you haven't figured it out yet, I usually update my story every Sunday seeing as that is my only free day. This might be a sort of filler chapter, but, the romance between the two should start to pick up. Enjoy!**

I was having a nice dream in which I was back home playing with my younger brother and sister; we were in the field behind our house where we were running around and laughing. They were running away from me when they started to get sucked away. As I ran towards them I heard a voice calling my name as it got increasingly louder. "No, no, NO!" I screamed.

"Austin wake up!" I shot open my eyes as I was met by a hard push to the side, effectively throwing me off the large bed.

"What was that for!" I yelled at her as I started to pick myself off the ground, dusting myself off in the process.

"You were yelling in your sleep; you needed to wake up so I thought that was the most convenient way to wake you up. Besides, what are you doing in my bed anyway?"

"Of course you did. Don't you remember? You asked me to stay the night with you because you were feeling lonely and didn't want me to abandon you." As soon as I finished the sentence I heard a loud snort as if dismissing it all.

"That is preposterous; why would I, the great and powerful Azula, need someone like you to spend the remainder of the night in my bed to keep me company?"

"Probably because you have abandonment issues." I muttered to myself. However, I had to swiftly duck as a decent sized fireball nearly took off my head.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" I turned around to see an enraged Azula; and let me tell you something, an enraged Azula is not a pretty Azula. Her hair was draping down in certain spots and her clothes were a mess.

"Uhm nothing; nope, nothing at all." I hesitantly spoke as I slowly made my way towards the door.

"That's right, nothing. I think you better leave now. Don't you have troops to train anyways?"

"Yes I do; I should probably get to them soon, bye." And with that I hastily made my way out the door and into the halls. I wondered what time it was but when I gazed up at the sky I figured that it had to be late morning; no doubt the men would be waiting for me, meaning that I had to forgo breakfast.

xXx

"Alright men listen up! Fortunately for you, I had a mishap this morning and was delayed in the process. Unfortunately for you, we get to make it all up; especially with endurance training, my favorite part of the day." As typical there were groans present; however, they were much quieter and fewer in between than usual as they became more accustomed to my punishment.

However, as the days went by they didn't just become more fit in the endurance perspective of training; they became better fighters as well. As I stood there watching them in their exercises I began contemplating on life, more specifically, my life back home. I was beginning to lose hope of ever returning back to my family and the recent nightmares were evidence of such. I knew I had to keep hanging on; and if I learned anything here, it was to never give up hope. Weird, that Katara girl of the rebels had the same demeanor and was stressing that constantly throughout our mini skirmish. I was brought out of my muse when one of the soldiers came up to me.

"Sir, we finished the long distance run for endurance like you said earlier; what is next?" This came from one of the few soldiers that I have not had the pleasure of meeting before. He was the calm and timid one; but hey, everyone has to come out of their shell eventually, whether they like it or not.

"Very good… uhm… what did you say your name was again?"

"Of course how could I forget sir; the name's Jet Li, sir." I looked up at him in disbelief when he said that. He saw this confused look and in turn gave me a questioning look.

"It's nothing; t's just that there is a famous person with that name where I come from. Wait; did you say Li, as in Yao Li? Are you two related?"

"Sadly, yes we are. He is my dimwitted older brother." His face then turned to that of a deadpanned expression as he finished explaining his name and why it sounded like he didn't like it very much.

"Well that makes perfect sense; I can see why you don't want people to know your name then. Unfortunately for you, he deteriorates your family name. Let's just hope that you can fix that. Now get back in line recruit!"

"Sir, yes sir!" He said as he quickly made his way back to line; but not quick enough to hide the small smile that I saw on his face.

I made my way back to where the recruits were lined up for inspection following their run when I heard a series of bells go off from the giant bell tower. I counted them up in my head and realized that I had to book it over to my lesson with Master Jeong Jeong if I didn't want to be late. "ALRIGHT MEN LISTEN UP! Unfortunately that is all for today as I must be going to my own training. Training will continue tomorrow morning so show up at the usual place at the usual time. That is all for now, DISMISSED!" As soon as I finished my announcement I hurriedly made my way over to Master Jeong Jeong, but not without grabbing food first.

xXx

I burst through the doors of the mess hall and quickly started scanning for food. I noticed the trio of girls sitting down when Ty Lee picked her head up and saw me. "Austin, over here," she said as she motioned with her hands for me to come over, but I had no time to spare.

"Sorry I can't right now, I'm in a hurry. Maybe later we can talk." I quickly located a fruit and salad bar and shoved some apples and other assortments of fruits into my bag and took off, leaving a trail of dust behind me.

xXx

"Sorry I am late Master, please excuse my tardiness." I said as I bowed before the great man.

"It is quite alright my apprentice; in fact, you are right on time. I see you have not eaten yet either, why don't you eat and listen while I talk." He replied as I took my seat in front of him.

"Thank you Master." I said as I bowed to him yet again, took out an apple, and promptly took my seat in front of him.

"My young and noble apprentice I have much to tell you in such a limited time. First I would like to know if you still have the token I gave you from our first meeting and if anybody else knows about it?" I nodded my head to his first inquiry then shook my head to the second, indicating that we were the only two that knew about it. "Good, good, that will become very important in the near future. I must, however, warn you about Fire Lord Ozai. The man is not what he seems; you must not take everything he says at face value; that man hides many secrets from all, some powerful enough to destroy an entire nation. I have watched you grow in your short time that you have spent here and I must say that your firebending has grown at an exceptionally high rate, almost to the rank of veteran, but not quite master." He said with a smirk as he finished the last sentence. He was about to continue on when we heard a series of footsteps making their way towards our location. "Listen my young apprentice; my time here is limited and I'm afraid I won't be around much longer; just remember to keep your eyes and ears open and to trust your instincts." I was confused by what he was going on about but I didn't have time to ask any questions as he vanished from me right before one of the guards opened the door.

"Mr. Bourne, Fire Lord Ozai wishes to see you now; follow me." He didn't say anything else as he turned around and started making his way back to Ozai's destination.

xXx

We arrived at the war room, in which Ozai spends much of his time, to my amazement. I knew that people only entered here when something really important was going on or if they were a high ranked official in the Royal Military, which I was not; so I knew something big was going down and I was going to be a part of it.

I entered the room, and out of customary and tradition bowed down to him, which in return he did not; rather he just stood there glaring at me. "It's a pleasure to meet you again Fire Lord, to what do I owe the honor." I said as I slowly made my way over to where he was standing.

"Do not pander me boy, you are full aware of why you were called in to meet me!" He yelled as his fury started to build up.

"I'm sorry sir but I have no clue why you called me in." I was honestly confused and had no idea where this was going. _Well, I guess this is the day I die then._

"Why have you not yet revealed the information on how to make the magical weapons that you wielded when you first made arrived here in our world!" He was legitimately pissed, but I was getting mad myself with the demands he was making. But, I knew that if I wanted to survive I had to keep calm no matter what.

"First of all, that was never in the agreement that we made when I arrived here. I never said I would show you how to make the weapons, nor did I agree to giving you the specs in which they are made. Second, I am a soldier, a simple wielder of the weapon; I do not know how to make the weapon; I only know how to use it. Lastly, you have no use for them anyway. Your men can already shoot fire out of their hand, a more than adequate means of attack; plus, the extra training and time would take away from the war front; which in turn, could cost you the war." I never agreed to such demands and had plans to never reveal the information to him anyways. If worst came to worst, I would destroy all evidence of the weapon and flee to somewhere safe. The real reason I didn't want to reveal the information is because I didn't want this world to be torn up by modern weapons. If one group gained access to them then the whole world would be gone.

"Of course you won't tell me! You better watch yourself Mr. Bourne, because you are treading on thin ice." I gave him a questioning and mysterious glance and he just smirked in response. "That's right, I know all about it. I know all about your plots with Master Jeong Jeong, or should I say, the Great Traitor." He finished his accusation and was staring down on me like a cat that caught a mouse.

"I'm sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about?" Things were going from bad to worse and likewise from crazy to super crazy.

"My spies have reports of Master Jeong Jeong working with the Rebel Alliance. He is a traitor and he has been working against us since the beginning. We know you're in on it Mr. Bourne, the only question is, how?" I became a little nervous when he said that. Master Jeong Jeong spoke of Ozai being deceptive and warned me of his ways; I was just now beginning to see what he was talking about. I now knew I had to slyly get myself out of this one before things escalated quickly.

"Look, all we talked about was how I was advancing quickly in my trainings and what I needed to do to become a better firebender to help out your cause." I was hoping he would buy that for the time being because there was no way I could tell him the truth.

"Alright, very well, I believe you. If you have any more knowledge on the matter you must contact me at once. You may go and eat dinner with everybody else now." As soon as he said that I was shoved out of the room by his guards with the doors promptly closing. As I looked back I saw a smirk on his face; we both knew I wasn't telling the truth. _Great, I just had to dragged in to the middle of this. Looks likes things are about to get very interesting._

xXx

I made my way into the dining area when, where after picking up my food, I was immediately greeted by Terrible Trio as I called them. I made the foolish mistake of making eye contact with the overexcited one so I had no choice but to engage them.

"Austin! Austin! Here, come over here!" Ty Lee called in her singsong voice. I was pretty sure that she was the only one that really wanted to see me, but, I was already making my way over to their location.

"Oh, hey ladies, how's it going?" I asked as I took a seat right beside them.

"It's going pretty good now that you're here." Ty Lee giggled as she stared at me.

"Oh brother." Mai stated in an annoyed and slightly depressed tone. _My thoughts exactly Mai._

"So Austin, are you looking forward to the ball tonight?" Ty Lee laughed in her typical manner. _How naïve can one person get?_

"Ball? What ball? I didn't know we had a ball tonight?" I asked in confusion yet again for who knows how many times today.

"Yes, the ball that takes place every year a week before Sozin's Comet?" Azula replied back.

"Okay, when does said ball take place?" I asked still a little confused, especially now about this Sozin's Comet.

"In about, oh, I don't know, two hours." Was the response I got out of Azula.

"Wow, great, thanks for giving me a heads up about this." I replied in the most sarcastic tone I could muster up.

"This is your so called heads up. I suggest you go get ready for this." _Wow, gee, thanks Azula._

I finished my meal and started making my way out the door and towards the market; I have to look great you know, when I heard Ty Lee's voice calling out, "It's a formal masquerade ball, so dress nice and wear a mask." I then exited the room where, for some odd reason, I was met by a group of the soldiers I train.

xXx

One of the recognized me and promptly saluted me, causing the rest to do the same. "At ease recruits." I said to relax them. "We're off the clock, so for right now, you don't have to salute me."

"Alright, good to know. So, are you going to go to the ball tonight, sir?" One of the guys asked.

"I guess I am now; though I suppose I should let you guys break the rules for one night and stay up late and party seeing as I will be doing the same." They all gave me weird looks when Yao, being his stupid self, decided to speak up.

"Oh, I didn't know there were any rules; we were going to go and stay up late and party any-" he was cut off by a swift elbow to the ribcage; immediately followed by a few "shut up Yao's."

"Interesting; I guess I can let it slide for right now considering I need to get ready for the party and I have nothing to wear." _Wait, since when did I become a woman? I'll find something to throw on last minute like usual._

"Don't forget that you also need a mask. I know just the guy for both, you're going to be the sharpest looking man there; well except for Chan, man that guy always has sharp outfits." Yao said as he started to get a weird look in his eyes with the mere mention of this Chan guy.

"I swear to god Yao, if I look stupid, you will not want to see the sight of daylight ever again." I knew the kind of man Yao was, and trust me, this would be the perfect opportunity to get me back.

"Relax, I got this, just trust me, okay?" _You better Yao, you better._

xXx

"So I don't look stupid right? Everything looks good and I don't look like someone from an entirely different planet, right?" I asked for probably about the twentieth time in the past ten minutes as I continued to check myself out and make sure everything looked good. They all gave me weird looks as I said that last part, but it was Yao who answered me.

"You look fine, see; all the ladies are checking you out. You're the life of the party; you have nothing to worry about." I looked around the giant room and he was in fact telling the truth, multiple women were indeed glancing our way. "Look, there goes stupid Chan with his stupid sharp outfit. Man I hate that guy." Yao hissed as that weird look in his eye came back to him.

"Yea, right." I said as I started to nonchalantly make my way away from him and towards the life of the party as he continued to glare at the man known as Chan.

After a little while of just standing there or walking around I decided to ask one of the ladies there that was not accompanied by a date to dance. I figured that since we all had masks on there would be no way for us to know each other. I asked the first lady and, to my surprise, she immediately said yes. We danced for a little while when, for some reason, some guards came and escorted her out of the party. A few moments later a person, who just happened to be Azula, strode up next to me.

"Now that your horrible dance partner is gone maybe you can stop looking like a drunken platypus-bear on the dance floor." Azula said with her usual arrogant demeanor as I took her hand in mine.

"Aww, is someone jealous of the attention I was giving to someone else?" I asked in mock sappy tone.

"Of course not! Why would I, the great and powerful Azula, be jealous of a little attention that you gave to some stupid peasant traitor?" She finished the last part of the sentence by crushing my hand a little bit even though her demeanor remained the same.

"You know if you wanted to dance all you had to do was ask me; you didn't have to have the guards take away the poor girl?" She refused to make eye contact and all she did was look at the ground for a couple of seconds. She finally lifted her head up and spoke again: "I don't know what you are talking about; I did no such thing."

We continued to dance in silence while she laid her head upon my chest for the remainder of the song. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your viewpoint, the song ended and the dancing came to a halt. I did what I thought any man would do given the circumstances and kissed her hand after bowing and left. I took a couple steps when I heard my name being called.

"Austin, wait!" I turned slowly to face Azula as she started coming to me. "Listen, I… don't… want to spend the night alone again. Will you please stay with me, just to be safe?" I saw I never saw in her eyes before; plead, she was pleading with me to stay with her and I knew that I couldn't say no to her, not to that face.

"Sure Azula, I'll stay with you." I said in a soft and soothing voice. She took my arm and we made it back to her room. After a little while we were both ready for bed and, after setting the curtains and comforters, we both laid down in her giant bed. I gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and we drifted off into sleep but not before I contemplated the words that Master Jeong Jeong told me earlier. _'Ozai is not what he seems; remember to keep your eyes and ears open and to trust your instincts.' How very interesting; I have no clue what he is talking about, but I guess I'll find out soon enough._

**A/N: Well it's not how I originally planned the story, then again I wasn't going to even continue it past the first couple chapters, but things come to you and you just have to write them down. I'm still not quite sure where I want this story to go but I have a pretty good idea. Until next time **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Alright guys I'm starting to get pretty close to the end, and as a result I have come up with a couple different endings. I'm not sure which one I want to stick with but I think I'll leave that up to you guys to decide. I'll post more info about it later on in the story. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the story so far and continue to read it. Enjoy!**

_It's been four days since the night of the ball. At first it was fairly awkward being so close to Azula and seeing the new side of her; but, I have grown accustomed to the way she acts, not only around me, but others as well. I have spent and additional three nights with Azula since then, each one being better than the last, though it was extremely uncomfortable explaining the whole situation to her father. I'm still keeping up hope that I'll find a way back to my home; but, if I never find a way, I think I could enjoy my life here with Azula. In a sense she makes my life complete here and I don't know what I'd do without her. Well, it looks like she's waking up; I'll be sure to keep you up-to-date with what's going on._

_Austin – Day 11_

I finished writing my letter and put down my pen and turned around just as she was starting to wake up. Her hair was a mess, and no, I know what you're thinking and that's not the cause, we haven't done that, and she stretched out her arms all the while patting the rest of the bed as if searching for something. At first she looked somewhat disappointed, but then we made eye contact and it disappeared to a look of contempt.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty." I said in mock sarcastic tone as she rose from her bed, put on a robe and made her way over to where I was sitting.

"Good morning to you. What are you doing up so early?" She asked as she took a seat beside me.

"I'm just writing another entry into my journal. It helps keep me sane and it allows me to keep track of my journey in case something should ever happen to me." I said as I gestured over to where the journal lay.

What happened next, however, took me by complete surprise. She stood up, and with her hands bringing my head along with the rest of my body up to hers, she enveloped me in a deep and passionate kiss. I was shocked momentarily, but, after regaining my bearings, I returned with equal passion in what I deemed the greatest kiss ever.

"What was that for?" I asked in bewilderment. I was flabbergasted from the kiss, but in a good way. It was the type of kiss that leaves you stunned frozen in spot; trying to come up with an idea on what to do, but only able to just stand there dazed.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me so far. You've really helped me with my behavior towards other people, and for that I am truly grateful." If I was stunned before than I think I might be paralyzed after just hearing that. I couldn't believe what just came out of her mouth; the royal pain-in-the-butt who I met just eleven days ago was actually thanking me for something. I had no idea that I could make such a big impact on someone's life in such a little time. Maybe my drill instructor was right; I could do anything once I put my mind to it.

"You are very welcome Azula. I'm glad to see you come around and change as much as you have. Trust me; it brings just as much joy to me as it does to you. Besides, now I don't have to hear you bitching at every little thing that goes wrong." Though I said that last line with humorous intention, I don't think she took it that way as she stormed off into the giant bathroom.

"Oh come on, I'm sorry." I said as I tried to plead with her. This was the last thing that I wanted to happen.

"You think I care that you are apologizing to me. Please, that little insult that you throw around like nothing didn't mean a thing to me." She was back to her old self in the sense that she was trying to belittle everyone around her; yet, she didn't say it with the usual conviction behind it that she normally has, as if she was hurt actually hurt by what I said.

"Alright listen. How about I go make breakfast for you to make it up to you." I said as I tried to bargain with her for her forgiveness.

"It better not suck. And don't you dare put poison in it because I will know if you do and then we're both dead." Ah back to her usual self again. I thought to best leave it at that and make my way to the dining area where there was more than likely two starkly different girls waiting for me.

* * *

After I received both mine and Azula's food, after making sure that the chef knew it was for Azula and that if he wanted to continue living he make it the best dish ever, I took my seat next to Mai and Ty Lee, knowing that's where Azula would sit. As soon as I took my seat, Ty Lee started berating me with questions as was typical for the past few days. Things like, "where is Azula? Did you guys do anything? Have you confessed your love for each other?"

"Okay Ty Lee you need to relax." I said as I put both my hands on her arms to calm her down. After a few seconds she was finally calm enough for me to answer her questions. "First off, Azula is back in her room getting ready; she should be with us momentarily. So far nothing has happened; all we have done is kissed." I knew the moment that left my mouth that was a mistake. Mai was indifferent as usual but Ty Lee was starting to freak out.

"Oh my god you guys did what!" As soon as she screamed that everyone in the room turned to look at us. I tried to sink lower in my chair and out of existence, but that was proving futile.

"Shut up Ty Lee. Do you want everyone to know?" Mai said in a harsh mood. Ty Lee calmed down a bit but was still, from some odd reason, gushing over this news.

"I didn't know you guys were this serious. Tell me what was it like? Was it long or quick? Was it deep and passionate one?" Ty Lee was starting to freak out again though I had no clue as to why.

"Yea I don't think it's my place to tell you all of that. I'll tell you what why don't you ask Azula yourself." As soon as I finished that I heard a voice from behind me speak up.

"Ask me what?" I knew that familiar voice and turned around to see Azula as she took the open seat next to me.

"Oh that you and Austin kissed and that you confessed your love for each other and are going to remain together for the rest of your lives." Ty Lee was extremely happy but Azula shot me a look that said, 'what the hell did you tell them.'

Before Azula even had a chance to respond I quickly cut her off. "Look I only told her that we kissed and that was it, I swear."

"Ty Lee must you always over exaggerate everything?" Azula sighed as she took a bite of her apple. "First of all, yes we did kiss but I shall leave it at that. However, we did not confess our so called love for each other. That is all; let's eat the remainder of breakfast in peace." Azula then went to eating her food but Mai and Ty Lee shot me questioning looks but all I did was just shrug back.

It was becoming painfully uncomfortable for me so I decided that I better come up with an excuse and leave before things got worse. "Uh look guys I have to go and uh train the soldiers. Yea that's it. So I'll see you guys later." I got up to leave when a voice caught me off guard again.

"Be safe and have fun," came from the voice of none other than Azula. We all turned and looked at her and gave her a weird look but she just gave us a look that said 'what?' After shaking my head I left the room and made my way out to the courtyard.

* * *

As I entered the courtyard I saw the men just standing lazily around and joking and just plainly having a good time. I started to make my way over to where they were when one of them spotted me and started clapping. Upon hearing the noise the rest of them turned around and started imitating the first soldier until there was quite a deal of noise.

I was confused out of my mind on what was going on when Yao came up to me and gave me a big pat on the back. "What is all this for?" I asked in bewilderment. He just gave me a big smile and led me over to where they were all huddled in a group.

"All of this is for taming the Great Beast." He said. It took me a second but I finally realized who he was talking about. "Ever since she became obsessed with you, she's got off our ass and has stopped being a royal pain in the ass." All the guys laughed at this and I could see where they coming from but I couldn't let them get away with that.

"You're lucky she's not around to hear that. Though since I suppose that I'm 'with her' it is my duty to defend her, even when she's not here. So that means, unfortunately for you all, you have to pay the price in running. Such a shame; I thought we could have a nice relaxing day." I said as I finished with a smirk plastered on my face. However, their facial expressions changed from that of humor to one of distraught. Yet again Yao came to their rescue.

However, I was in a generous mood today so their punishment wasn't too bad. After they finished up, we followed it with sparring. Now I haven't fought in forever, well practically two weeks but it seemed like forever; but, fighting is like riding a bike, it never really leaves you and you never forget. That's why I decided to challenge Yao to a dual, to test his knowledge and give me a refresher.

"You sure you want to go through with this? I mean I don't want to embarrass you in front of everybody here?" Yao was getting cocky and that's exactly what I wanted.

"Yea I I'm sure. You'll go easy on someone like myself won't you?" I asked in a mock pleading tone. If only he knew what he was getting himself in to.

"I'll try not to go too hard on ya you old timer." With that he took off with a fierce shot of fire at my head. I dodged it with relative ease, but that was only the beginning.

We traded a few blows but I knew that it was time to put him in his place before things got too out of hand. He lunged at me with a swift jab to my chest which I deflected with ease and countered immediately with a sharp jab to his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and consequently him out of the fight.

"Not too bad for an old timer huh? Though I am only eighteen, which in my country, means I'm barely an adult." He was seething in pain as I walked over to him to help him up. "Yea we're done here, nothing else needs to be said or done. That's about it for today boys; pack up and make your way back towards base." I helped Yao get himself together and the rest of the group got their gear and made their way back to camp, leaving me to dwell on today's events.

I thought about Azula and what would become of us, but more importantly, I thought about this whole rebellion ordeal and why I was no longer going to receive training. I knew that I could probably find someone else but that wasn't the point. The point was that my personal master who was supposed to help me pave my destiny disappeared and hasn't been heard or seen from since. I had a lot of questions, but unfortunately, no answers. It was with that, that I decided to make my way back towards the palace.

* * *

I was walking aimlessly through the halls when one of the palace guards that protects Ozai's room came up to me. "Your presence is demanded in the war room." He said it in the type of voice that meant it was a demand not a request.

"Alright, what is it for?" I wanted to know but the guard wouldn't budge.

"Follow me," was all he said as he turned around and made his way towards Ozai's location.

I arrived in the war room to see Ozai discussing what seemed to be war tactics with his top generals and other military leaders. "Ah Austin it is good to see you again; please take a seat." I knew something was up by the way he spoke but decided against saying anything. _Man that is one sketchy dude._ Ozai had been acting strange since the day that Jeong Jeong disappeared. He acted like he trusted me and I was his right hand man, but I knew otherwise. "We were just discussing some of the details of the war. General Zhao, I believe you were discussing the war effort in the Earth Kingdom."

"Yes as I was saying, we have been pinned down against the Earth Army's troops after the invasion failed invasion of Chengdu. However, I have a plan to retake the city and crush the resistance once and for all. I will send the newly recruited 7th division into the middle of the fight where they will be swarmed from by the Earth Kingdom's army. When they get attacked the enemy troops will be ambushed by our elite archers, sending them to their doom." He finished his statement with a bang on the table with his fist smashing the tiny earth figurines. _Wait did he just say he'd sacrifice the men?_

"Excuse me General, but did you just say that you are going to send in troops to be killed?" I couldn't believe the audacity of this man.

"I'm sorry but who gave you the permission to speak?" He asked as he turned to face me.

"Relax General; I'm sure our guest was unaware of when to speak. Austin, in this room there are rules, rules such as when you are allowed to speak. I must warn you not to speak out of turn again."

"But he said he was going to send in the troops to be killed." Does he realize what he is doing is wrong?

"They are new recruits who have no experience; they are worthless. Their lives are a small price to pay in winning the war. You have no idea on how to run a war front so I suggest you just shut your mouth before you get in more trouble."

"But you just can't send in people to get slaughtered!"

"Both of you that's enough!" Ozai's voice boomed throughout the room. "If either one of you speaks irrationally again you will be banished! Is that understood!" We both nodded though the general gave a slight grunt in response. "Good, now General please tell me more about this plan and what are the expected consequences and outcomes."

"As I was saying; I am going to send in the troops as a decoy. There is an extremely high chance that all of them will die, but they are doing a great honor for our nation. Also, civilian casualties will be fairly high but that is expected in a battle like this. Besides, they are all rebellion scum who deserve to die anyways." This man was extremely arrogant and a horrible leader; Ozai had to stop this man before things got out of control.

"That is acceptable General. Though it is not ideal, I can live with these circumstances. Go on with the plan as planned." With that he got up and turned around, having the imperial guards show us the way out. _I can't believe that Ozai allowed this man to not only sacrifice the lives of his troops, but the lives of civilians as well. This is madness and completely unacceptable; under no circumstances can the deaths of many civilians be justified._

I left the room with anger in my eyes; knowing that what they were planning on doing was wrong, yet having the power to do nothing about it.

* * *

I was walking down the halls back towards my room so I could vent in private when I was approached by none other than Azula. At first I didn't notice her, but a couple fairly loud shouts and a fireball or two caught my attention.

"Finally I got your attention; you're harder to wake up than a platypus-bear. Wait why do you look like that? Didn't something happen when you were at the meeting? Do I need to get people banished?" Her fists were starting to flare up and I realized that I needed to take control even though she was trying to cheer me up in that weird way of hers.

"What, no, it's fine don't worry about it. Seriously, everything is fine; I'm just deep in thought right now about everything that is going on." It wasn't technically a lie because I was thinking about the meeting, which happened only moments before.

"If you say so. Hey, I was thinking that since you don't have a firebending teacher anymore, and given how perfect I am at it, I was thinking that I could be your instructor. You know, considering you still suck at it." She was genuine and had the right intention which was sweet, but as usual her way with words was diminishing my morale.

"Really that would be great. Listen, it's getting kind of late so why don't we head back to your room and we'll discuss it further in the morning." I had a lot on my mind and I just needed to think about it to clear up my mind in order to sleep.

After what seemed like forever, Azula finally got done with her pre-bedtime routine. _Seriously, what takes women so long to get ready? _We got underneath the covers and she promptly snuggled up close to me as she had done in previous nights. What was different, however, was what she said to me right before we drifted off to slumber. It was a whisper, barely loud enough to hear, yet it shook me to the core. "Good night Austin, I love you." I just laid there frozen, unable to move or form a comprehensive thought. The lights were off and she went to sleep while I just laid there in silence.

I laid awake for hours thinking everything through, replaying scenes a thousand times over in my head. _"I love you." _I also thought about what was said at the meeting and what Master Jeong Jeong told me about Ozai before he vanished. After reflecting on what Master Jeong Jeong said and what transpired at the meeting and what my core beliefs were, I decided that I had to do something. So I got up, went to the desk and wrote. I kept writing out letter upon letter to make sure that it was perfect. I had no idea on what I had to, or even what I should do, but I knew that my place, my destiny was not with the Fire Nation.

_I can't do this. I can't condone, no, I can't sit by and do nothing while thousands of soldiers and innocent civilians get slaughtered all for a war that was a lie from the beginning. That's right, one night I went digging through archives, the library, Master Jeong Jeong's stuff, whatever I could find and found out the true meaning behind the war. _After finding out the true nature of the war I knew that I couldn't help them out.

With the final ink in my pen, I signed my name and left the letter on top of the pillow that I used so Azula could spot it easily. I packed up all my gear that I had, even the heavy bag that was on me the very first night I arrived here, and I headed out the door. I gave one last glance at Azula who was sleeping blissfully in her sleep and turned around and made my way out of the palace. I was walking and almost out of the palace grounds when a familiar face stopped me.

"Halt! What is your business out here during this hour?"

"It's good to see you too Chang." I said with a sad smirk on my face.

"Mr. Bourne? What are you doing out here this late at night?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago. Listen, whatever happens, happens; be careful out there and watch your back; I'll see you on the flipside. Oh, and I was never here, got that!" He was a good guy but no one could know what happened to me or things could go south very quickly.

"Yes sir, I got that." He said back in a downcast tone. He knew the parameters of the circumstances and that it was his duty to not tell a living soul that I was here. All I did was give a nod in response as I made my way past him and out into the dark abyss.

* * *

Azula was having a nightmare and awoke with a flash. She reached her arm across the bed for comfort, but when she felt nothing but the soft blankets, that feeling quickly vanished and was replaced with one of fear. She quickly lit the candles in her room to see what was the matter, and upon doing so, she spotted the letter resting upon the pillow. She quickly tore it open and began reading the letter, word for word, soaking up everything.

_Dear Azula,_

_It pains me deeply to write this letter to you, but I feel it is my moral obligation that I must. I couldn't wake you up and face you; I had to take the cowards' way out and write this letter to you instead. I hope you can forgive my actions, but, if you don't, I understand completely. I am writing this letter to you to inform you that I have ran away from the Fire Nation and will not return anytime shortly if I can help it. I cannot stand by and watch as your evil and corrupt country destroys the lives of many; I need to do something to stop tyranny. I took an oath to protect people from such evils, whether it is my home nation back in the world I come from, or some foreign land in this world, I will stand by that oath until the day that I die. The fact of the matter is that your nation goes against the very beliefs and morals that I am built upon; I cannot turn my back on innocent lives knowing that I could have done something to save them. I do not expect you to betray your nation and join my cause. Your decision is completely up to you, I just pray that whatever that decision may be, you are behind it one hundred percent. Just know that I love you too._

_Love always,_

_Austin_

Azula broke in to a rage of fury upon reading the letter. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes and fire shot throughout the room. 'How dare he just leave her like that! Who does he think he is where he can just leave her in the night like that!' Azula quickly threw on her robe and stormed in to the courtyard, searching feverously for any signs of him. After searching for a little while she came across a guard who was patrolling the gates.

"You there! Have you seen a man pass by here tonight? "He's about yay high," Azula said while raising her arm a few inches above his head, "has brown hair and goes by the name of Austin."

"Y-… no, I haven't, I'm sorry, Princess." The soldier stated while staring at the ground, refusing to make eye contact. However, that slight hesitation was all she needed to confirm his suspicions. He could run, but he couldn't hide. She would find him yet again. And he would stay with her forever, whether he wanted to or not. This was one person that she wouldn't let walk out of her life. _Once father and I win the war, you will be mine. You'll see that we were right all along. I will allow you to stay with me and together we will rule the world. You just wait and see._

Azula had a devious grin as she made her way back to her room. Things were far from over.

**A/N: So what did you guys honestly think? Please tell me it wasn't too horrible. This chapter I found my true weakness in writing: romance. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. If you do flame, please flame constructively. I tried to keep it up to the standards of the rest of the story which you guys said was well written. Anyways, that was my shot at the romance between the two, but don't worry, there will be more to come. Until next time**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Alright readers, I am finally back! Sorry about the long delay, but I have been kept very busy for the past few weeks; with school work, college applications, and Black Ops 2 (don't judge it's a pretty good game). I apologize about the long lapse, but be rest assured, I will be wrapping the story up on time from here on out. Originally I wasn't really sure how to carry on after last chapter, or if I even wanted to; but your guys' encouragement has motivated me to finish it on out. Sorry yet again for the long AN, I just had some stuff to clarify. Anyways, I don't own anything except the OC's. Enjoy!**

I traveled throughout the entire duration of the night, only stopping to take short breaks every now-and-then. I wasn't sure how long I had been traveling, but I knew I had to get as far away from the palace as quick as possible. I sat down near some shore and took out some food I had piled up for the journey. As I took a bite out of the bread, I gazed into the distance and saw an ominous glow emanating from some sort of house. It was on some sort of island, whether it was a friendly or an enemy one I had no clue, I just knew I had to go check it out. So I packed up the remaining food and searched for a vessel to take me to this foreign island, quickly coming upon a small canoe that, luckily enough, had an oar inside. It was now sunrise and I figured that the Fire Nation sent a search party after me considering that they probably wouldn't let a fugitive just prance on out of their stronghold.

After canoeing for a short while I docked the canoe on the shore and set foot on the gorgeous sand. It was still cool to the touch as it was only morning, yet, that's not was surprised me. As I reached down to pick up the sand, I noticed a trail of footprints leading to what must have been the house where the mysterious glow was coming from. _Alright bump it, you're an adventure, goes see where this trail leads to. _I carefully followed the trail, pacing each of my footprints in those that were already on the beach, as to not give away my position. I slowly inched my way up to the house and peered inside noticing that there weren't any lights on. _Huh that's strange. I wonder where everyone went. _

I lurked around in the house, taking notice of my surroundings as to not miss anything that could cause me potential harm. I wandered from room to room but stopped in the middle of the hallway when something caught my eye. I came across a giant painting; but it wasn't the size of the painting that drew my attention, but rather the people in it. _Wait a second, that's Azula's family!_

Noting that I was in fact in Azula's house, I carefully left the house and went into the courtyard. Once again I noticed that there were footprints, yet not a person nor sound could be made out. "It's quiet, too quiet." I said to myself. "Almost as if it's-"

"A trap!" Yelled the man with the ponytail, and suddenly a group of teenagers appeared out of nowhere.

"Sokka you idiot! A trap doesn't work if you scream it out loud and let everyone know it's a trap." The short girl with no shoes on scolded the man in the ponytail who I figured out was Sokka.

"Well it worked, didn't it?" He shot back.

"Whatever you say snoozles."

"Anyways, who are you and what do you want?" An older girl with long hair that had loops in it asked as she redirected the conversation.

"Listen I didn't come here to fight, it's just that- wait a second, you're Azula's brother." I said as I suddenly took notice of the oldest male there who was also in the painting with Azula.

"Yea that's me, Zuko. Now why are you here?" He asked in a calm yet demanding tone.

"Listen, the truth is that I fled from there. That place just isn't what it seemed to be. You were right when you said that she hadn't told me everything."

"Let me guess; you were at a war meeting and one of the generals said that they were going to sacrifice a bunch of new recruits to win a battle, and you found out the true nature of the war?" He asked as he stared me down.

"Yea, how did you know?" I asked in disbelief.

"The same thing happened to me." He said in a cold and dark tone as he stared off into space.

"Look, I know we don't really know each other, but I can't let them get away with their madness and destruction. I would like to join you guys in your fight to stop the Fire Lord." I said it with power but everyone just looked at me weird, like I had just said I wanted to take on the nation by myself.

"Well, I know we didn't get off on the right foot, but I honestly think I can help you overthrow the Fire Lord. While I may not be able to teach you guys anything, I do possess key information on their battle plans, plus I have vital military strategy knowledge. Besides, you let this guy in," as I pointed with my thumb over to Zuko, "and he tried to kill you guys for over a year."

"That's true, we did. Wait a second, how did you know about that?" The little girl asked while pointing a finger at me.

"Azula told me a lot of things. Anyways, I also have this," I said as I took out the token that looked like a checker piece that Master Jeong Jeong gave me.

"What is that?" A girl with light brown hair asked.

"Wait a second, that's a white lotus pai sho piece. Where did you get that?" Zuko asked as he took the pai sho piece from my hand.

"If you must know, Master Jeong Jeong gave it to me." I said as I regained possession of the piece after stealing it back from Zuko.

"Master Jeong Jeong gave it to you?" Asked the small bald headed kid.

"Yes, and you can have it too if you let me join. So what do you say?" I asked as I put on an exaggerated smile.

"Group discussion!" Sokka announced and they all huddled around in a giant circle. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I was able to make out some of it. I really needed their help as I had nowhere else to go.

"Alright, against my better judgment, we have decided to let you join. " Sokka announced as they broke from their meeting of sorts. From I what I made out, I figured that he must be the unofficial leader of their group.

"Good, don't worry this is one decision you won't regret.

"Well we should all introduce ourselves so we can all know each other. My name is Austin, and yes, before you say anything, I am obviously not from here. I would like to get home in the quickest and easiest way possible so that I can forget this ever happened." In order to fight some giant power, I figured that I should at least know their names first.

"Well I'm Toph." The short girl said. "The one with the hair loopies is Katara; that one over there is Sokka's girlfriend Suki," for some reason I detected a bit of malice when she said that as if she was hiding something. "You already know Sokka and Zuko it seems; so lastly that's Aang, he's the Avatar."

"Hi, I'm Aang the Avatar." He said happily. In a sense he kind of reminded me of Ty Lee with his childhood innocence and energy.

"Uh, hi Aang."

"You do realize that tomorrow is the day of the Black Sun, right?" Sokka asked wearily.

"Uh, yea so, what does that have to do with anything?" I asked as I was truly confused with the situation on hand.

"Oh nothing really; it's just that my father plans to destroy everything in his path and that's when we launch our counter-offensive to defeat him once and for all." Though he was being sarcastic, I could see the seriousness and importance of what he was talking about.

"Oh." Just oh; it's all I could say after hearing the enormous importance of the very next day. Somehow I was dragged in to a world war, not the likes of which Earth has seen, no, a true world war in which every single person would be affected personally. It was a single day that could change the outcome of humanity as they knew it. This one day was momentous, crucial to the freedom of the people that dwelled here. Though I had no real part in this war, I realized then and there that I had to do something in order to give freedom to the people that rightfully deserved it.

"Yea, that's right. Anyways, I already created an amazing full-proof master plan, though I suppose if I had to tweak it a tad I might be willing to compromise." Sokka said proudly as he raised a parchment to his chest.

"Well then, I suppose that you have divided yourselves into a series of groups where your strengths overshadow each other's weaknesses in which you use these strengths to their maximum potential by dividing and conquering your enemy." It was a long winded statement but it got the effect that I was going after. The group sat there while Sokka's mouth literally dropped, not quite the cartoon way per se, but it dropped nonetheless.

"Yea, that's a pretty basic overview of what I had." Sokka said as he scribbled some stuff on his piece of paper.

"I also assume that you have already coordinated attacks with your allies so that you all strike at the same time, thus spreading out the Fire Nation's resources as much as possible.

"We already have that covered." Zuko said with determination. "I talked to Uncle; he said that he and the rest of the members of the White Lotus will take back Bas Sing Se."

"Good, then I see we are on the right page. Now, what are all of your roles in this ordeal?" They looked at each other, but it was Sokka once again who spoke up.

"Well you said that we should split up into groups that are most effective right? Since its Aang's duty to fight the Fire Lord, he will do that; but what about the rest of us?" Sokka asked as he pointed to the rest of the crowd.

"Well why don't you tell me about yourselves, in the fighting sense so-to-speak."

"I will go to the palace to fight my sister." Zuko said coldly as he continued to stare at the ground.

"Uh, alright, I was kind of hoping you would tell me more about your fighting capabilities but that works too." I was getting a weird vibe off of him but I figured that it was some hatred that festered itself deep down inside of him and that he needed to fight his sister.

"I know! I got it! I got the perfect plan to take down the Fire Lord!" Sokka came to this sudden realization of his and became ecstatic with what he had come up with. "Aang will, of course take on the Fire Lord; Toph, Suki and me will take down the Fire Nation airships; and Katara and Zuko will go to the palace and take care of Azula. But, where does that leave you?" He asked as he pointed at me.

"I will go to the palace with Zuko and Katara?" I said in a dark tone, barely louder than a whisper.

"Why do you want to go to the palace?" Zuko asked in a harsh tone.

"Yea, why do you want to go? Not that we don't want your help, it's just that why would you want to go back to the palace?" Katara said in her usual semi-sweet tone.

"I have some unfinished business to take care of."

**A/N: Well that's that. I know it wasn't as g****o****od of chapter as it should have been for being away for so long. Writer's block sure does suck. Hopefully it wasn't too short; well it's better than nothing, right? Clearly the part where Austin came up with the plan didn't happen, you don't say, shut up, this is my note. I added some of it in, not only to make the chapter longer, but to make the protagonist more awesome. He is the hero you know. Have a happy Thanksgiving! Until next time**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Now that college apps and SAT tests are done, I can focus more on this story. However, with that said, this may very well be the last chapter. This is my original idea on how to end the story, but, as I continued writing this, I began to come up with alternate endings. Anyways, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed the story thus far, and without further ado I present you the latest installment. Enjoy!**

I awoke early in the morning on what I like to call Avatar D-day: the Invasion of the Fire Nation. I was well aware of what to expect and what was going on, yet this didn't make the task at hand any easier. I knew I would ultimately have to face _her _at least one more time. I double checked all the gear that I came into this world with and parted my makeshift tent and went out into the open air. It was a beautiful day out; there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. _What a shame that today is the day of invasion. _

"Good, you're up." Sokka said as he was studying his map. "We are currently here," he said as he pointed to a spot on his map, "this is where the palace is located," he said as he motioned to another point on his map. "The Fire Nation fleet is located on this island so we are going to need to get there as quick as possible in order to prevent them from taking off."

"Hey, does anybody know where Aang is?" Katara asked as she surveyed the area but came up with nothing.

"Yea it's not like he's important or anything." Toph joked in her usual sarcastic manner.

"Don't worry guys, I have a strong feeling that he will carry though." I knew that confidence was vital to our success and that if we didn't have a high morale then we would surely lose.

"Alright, well let's go over the battle plan one last time." Sokka insisted as he rolled up his map and put it in his bag.

"Do we really have to; I mean we already know what we're doing. We show up, kick the Fire Nation's butt and go home." Toph illustrated her point by smashing a rock in her hand.

"While I love your enthusiasm Toph, I agree with Sokka, we need to go over the plan of attack until we have it memorized." _Definitely don't want anyone screwing up the most important day of their lives due to a stupid mental mistake._

"Thank you!" Sokka squealed out in his happy manor. "Besides, we don't want you to screw it all up." Sokka mumbled to himself.

"You want to run that by me again, Snoozles!" Toph was on top of Sokka quicker than anyone could see.

"Come on guys, let's save that for later, alright? Sokka as you were saying." I said as to redirect the conversation before things got out of hand.

"As I was saying, it's going to go down like this. Toph, Suki and me will make our way to the island in which the Fire Nation blimps are being held while Katara, Zuko and Austin will take Appa to the Fire Nation palace in which they will battle Azula. Also Aang will battle the Fire Lord. Any questions?"

"Just one. What is that thing supposed to be?" Zuko asked as he pointed to some weird drawing that not even I had a clue on what it was.

"It looks like a demented dolphineel." Katara said as she tilted her head from side to side.

"What! That's supposed to be Appa!" Sokka whined as he tried to convince every one of his artistic skills or rather lack thereof.

"Well I think it looks wonderful, Sokka." Toph said in a mock appreciative tone.

"Thanks Top- you get a real kick out of that don't you?" Sokka said as his self-esteem deflated.

"Yea, it makes me happy."

"So, are you guys ready?" Zuko asked in a calm yet forceful tone. As soon as he said that everything got quiet again. One could slice the tension with a dull knife it was so thick.

"Well, I guess this is it guys." Katara said as it looked like she tried not to cry.

"Yea, see you on the other side." Suki said and with that we all departed to our respective places before we launched our attack.

Zuko had just helped Katara load on to Appa's back when he turned and faced me. "Are you sure you want to come with us?" He had a stern look, but one of compassion as well.

"Yea. Yea, I'm sure." I knew I would have to face her again sooner or later whether I wanted to or not. I knew that if by some magical chance that I did get to see her again I would try my very best to make things right.

I boarded upon our airship and we headed for the skies.

xXx

We were well on our way to the palace, not quite near it yet, but definitely more than halfway. I was trying to stay calm and mentally prepare myself for what was about to go down when I was brought out of my muse when the two started pandering questions, well mainly Katara though Zuko had a question or two. I wasn't sure who asked first or what was even being asked at all, but it was Katara who spoke up first following the momentary silence.

"So, what was it like being trapped in the Fire Nation for so long?" Katara asked as she looked very interested in what I had to say on the subject matter.

"Well firs of all, I wasn't trapped or held against my will. But to answer your question, it was fairly nice staying there. I mean, I just showed up out of nowhere and they allowed me to stay in the palace. Not many people just allow people to stay in a freaking palace out of the blue."

"That is very true." Zuko added. "What was my father like? Did he try to destroy you at every single opportunity he got?" I could easily detect some resentment towards his father. _Man, this family has a lot of issues._

"Actually, no. On the contrary, he was quite polite in the manner in which he treated me; though I would not say he was kind. He taught me a great deal of knowledge though I easily detected an underlying reasoning behind it. He was very deceptive and I knew he was hiding something, I just couldn't tell what it was."

"Yea," Zuko said as he snorted and blew air out of his nose, "that definitely sounds like something my father would do."

"But tell us what we are all dying to here." Katara said as she inched closer to me. "What's the deal between you and Azula?"

"Well you see, it's actually quite interesting."

xXx

Sokka, Suki and Toph were making their way towards the island that contained the fleet of Fire Nation ships when they spotted one of them taking off.

"No, we're not going to make it!" Sokka yelled as the flying vehicle went right overhead.

"There's got to be another way to stop them!" Suki encouraged as they stood there in awe of the massive ships.

"I got just the idea." Toph said as she punched her fist into her palm.

xXx

"I guess it all began when I first talked to her in the dining hall. I approached them when Ty Lee, a very energetic person to say the least, motioned for me to sit down. As I did I took notice of Azula, she had this type of demeanor about her that said that she was strong and impenetrable on the outside, but wanted to love way deep down on the inside. After getting to know her more, I knew that it was more than a physical attraction to her. Then one night, the night of your Fire-ball-dance-thing, we sort of took our relationship to the next level."

"Wait," Katara said. "How far to the next level?"

"We ended up sleeping together." The sudden looks of shock and horror reminded me of what I said. "No, not in that sense," I said to their relief. "I was about to leave her room when she started opening up to me. She said things that shocked me to my very core; she said things that I didn't think were humanly possible for her to say. She told me about things, like about how her mother never really loved her. You two probably can't comprehend that, but something like that can have horrible psychological consequences. Anyways, we started to hang out more and talk about things, normal everyday things, a lot more often, and we really started to connect. That's when I realized that I had fallen for her, _hard."_

"You didn't!" Katara exclaimed.

"I couldn't believe it at first either. In just a period of a few days I realized that I had fallen in love with this crazy girl. I thought that maybe life here wouldn't be so bad, and that maybe if I was with her then I could stay here. However, everything changed when I found out the true intentions of the Fire Nation. I was forced to choose between the woman I loved and my own morals, what I believed in, what made me who I am. So after debating with myself for the better portion of the night, and against everything my heart was telling me not to do, I left the Fire Nation." After I said that everyone was speechless, myself included. Katara had this sad look in her eye and I was starting to tear up a bit.

"Wow, that's rough buddy, "Zuko finally said to break the awkward silence.

"You're not very good at these things are you?" I asked as I faced him.

"No, not really."

"Anyways, did you guys… you know… ever do it?" Katara asked somewhat impatiently.

"Do what? Oh that! No, no, we haven't done that yet. But can we please talk about something else, I rather not talk about this right before we have to face Azula and the rest of the guards at the palace."

"Too late," Zuko said, "we're already here." And true enough we were rapidly approaching the palace.

As we drew nearer to the palace, fire balls started exploding all around us from imperial guards, guards I knew all too well. "Get lower so you can drop me off in front of the gate," I said. "I have some things I need to take care of first."

"You sure you want to do this?" Katara asked as she lowered Appa closer to the front gates.

"Yea, I'm sure," I said with a smirk as I jumped off of Appa and landed pretty hard on the ground in front of the gate. As I looked up I saw Appa gaining altitude as they disappeared into the horizon.

"Well look what we have here, if it isn't our good 'ol friend Austin come back to see us again?"

"It's nice to see you too Yao."

xXx

"Look, I don't want to fight you guys alright?" I tried to plead with them before things got out of hand.

"I can understand that, who wouldn't want to fight us?" _Oh brother, here we go again._

"You guys, the Fire Lord is going to be defeated and along with it the Fire Nation. Zuko will take the crown and an era of peace will be ushered in. Just surrender now and everybody will walk away just fine."

"Those are some pretty interesting demands, especially since they're coming from a man who's not in a position to be making 'em." Yao said as his group started to encircle me.

"This is your last warning! It's now or never! We can all pretend this encounter never happened!"

"The same thing goes for you too!" Yao shot back at me.

"Well I didn't want to have to do this," I yelled as I drew my pistol and pointed it at Yao's head. However, I never even got the chance to usher a warning as a fire blast from one of the other soldiers burnt it into a fine crisp. "And it looks like I won't be using it anyways," I muttered to myself.

As soon as I threw the useless scrap metal to the ground a guard launched out at me. I quickly defended the first couple punches and incapacitated him by pinning his arm behind his back and flipped him around. Just as I did so, another soldier launched a kick which effectively took out the guard I was using as a shield. "One down, five to go" I said to myself as I threw the unconscious body to the ground. Two guards from both sides of me flung towards me, and at the last second I ducked which sent them right into one another, yet again rendering them useless from the battle after a quick jab to the neck by my master hands.

"Convenience at ease my friends," I taunted as I dodged punch after kick. They still outnumbered me three to one so I had to wait for the right moment to strike. That's when I saw it; one of the newer, inexperienced guards threw a wild punch leaving his midsection wide open. With two quick jabs he was out for the count, leaving all two more guards standing in my path of victory.

That's when a large rumble broke out. A huge blue fireball tore through the walls of the building. The two other guards along with myself were flung from our fighting stances into whatever object stopped our frantic motion. Fortunately for me, it was a rather soft bush full of lotus flowers. Unfortunately for one of the other guards, who is unimportant to the plot of the story, it was a jagged shard of stone from one of the outer walls. Luckily, I looked away right before the stone impaled his body.

"I guess that leaves just you and me Yao." I said as I picked myself up from the ground and prepared for another round of fighting.

"Well if it isn't my lucky day." He returned as he too got up from the ground.

"You know you can still surrender." I added as I defended a rather errant punch from Yao.

"Yea, well, today is the day where the student surpasses the master." He said as he shot another kick at me, this time it was directed at my head.

"In your dreams," I said as I landed a fairly strong punched that glanced his ribcage. He winced in pain as he went down to one knee. "You see, that's the problem, I didn't teach you everything I know." But as soon as I said that, his fist connected with the side of my face launching me on a quick journey to the dirt ground.

"That's good to know, because I picked up a few tricks myself." He said as he hovered above me.

"Lucky shot," I spat as I spat blood out of my mouth.

We went at it back and forth for a great deal of time. Every so often one of us would slip up and the other would land a pretty decent sized blow on the other. He was worse for wear, though I wasn't doing much better myself. It all came down to who made the fewest mistakes and ultimately he made the last one. After going for two rib shots, he went for the head shot. I barely dodged the attack and found that he left his left side of his body wide open. With my left fist I launched an attack at his left side of his rib cage. He winced and crumpled down in pain, allowing me to end the fight one and for all. With a sharp jab from my right fist, I upper-cutted his jaw, rendering him futile. I stood there above his motionless body with a feeling of remorse. "What a shame, all you had to do was surrender." I spat out blood, bandaged my wounded arm and left to find Azula and her brother. _Hopefully no one died and I can get there in enough time to prevent some horrible from happening. _

xXx

As I drew nearer to the scene where all the horrid fire came out of, I noticed that it was eerily silent. _Something horribly wrong happened._ I rushed into the courtyard to find Katara kneeling beside Zuko's prone body. "Wh- what happened here?" I managed to croak out.

Katara was sobbing but she managed to answer my question. "Zu- Zuko… Azula shot lightning at me. It was going to hit me when Zuko dove in front of me to save me from the blast." I looked down and noticed a large burn mark in his chest.

"Is he going to be alright?" I finally asked.

She looked around for a little while then a sudden realization overcame her. She reached around neck and produced a vial of water. "This… this should save him. I was originally going to use it on his scar but I know now that I have to use it to save him."

I took a step back as Katara began to use her healing abilities on Zuko's wound. After a little while, Zuko came to. "Wha- what happened to me?" He groaned out as he started to sit up.

"Oh my god, you are okay!" Katara screamed as she threw her arms around him.

"Welcome back buddy." I said as I patted him on the back. "Hey, I know you don't really want to answer this, but… where is Azula?"

"She's over there in chains." Katara spat as she motioned over her left shoulder.

"Uh, thanks." I said as I hastily made my way over to where Azula was located. As I approached her body, I slowed down and was able to notice that she was crying hysterically.

xXx

"Azula… are you… okay?" I slowly asked her as I came up close to where she was kneeling.

"What do you want!" She spat, her words dripping with venom as he refused to make eye contact with me.

"Look, I'm really sorry what happened." I said as I placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Oh I'm sure of it!" She yelled with heavy sarcasm, along with shrugging off the hand that was on her shoulder.

"Azula please look at me," I begged as I held up her face to look me in the eyes. "Please believe me, I am truly sorry, but I couldn't stay around and just let your father go through with his plans. " This was the straw that broke the camel's back so-to-speak as the floodgates burst open.

"How could you leave?" She wailed in between hysterics. "You're just like mother!"

"I know it hurt and I'm truly sorry." I said as I comforted her by wrapping her up in a big hug. She mumbled something but I couldn't hear her so I let go of her for a few seconds.

"I told you I loved you! Do you know how hard it was for me to say that!" She yelled as the hysterics continued yet again.

"I know Azula, I know. But you know what, I love you, Azula. I really do." I tried to hold her close again but she wouldn't let me.

"Just leave me alone to die!" She screamed as she tried to break free.

"Never. Let's see if we can do something about these chains." As I looked up I saw allies and more importantly Sokka and the rest of the group comforting Katara and Zuko. I saw Sokka hug someone who I figured must have been his father, therefore, the man in charge. I walked up to him and introduced myself.

"Hello, I am Austin, and you must be Sokka and Katara's father." I said as I shook his hand.

"Indeed I am. The name is Hakoda; Sokka and Katara have told me a great deal about you." He said as he returned the handshake with equal force.

"Listen, I was wondering if you can release Azula from her chains. She is in a horrible state right now and the chains are only making it worse."

"We can discuss that in a minute," he said. "But first I would like to discuss something else. I believe this belongs to you," he said as he pulled out the Transdimensional Vortex Inducer (TVI) from behind his back.

"Where on earth did you get that!" I exclaimed as I took it from his hands.

"Actually we didn't find it in this so called earth you speak of. Actually, some men found it deep within the chambers of the Fire Nation palace. It looks damaged and I have no idea how to work it, but I figured you would no probably more about it than anyone here."

"Wow this is absolutely amazing, I don't know what to say." I said as I turned the object around in my hands.

"You don't have to say anything; think of it as a gift for aiding our side in the fight against the Fire Nation."

"Speaking of the Fire Nation, that reminds me, can you please release Azula from her chains now?"

"I suppose we can do under the circumstances that she is heavily guarded by our best warriors."

"I'll take it thanks," I said as I went to shake his hand. However, as soon as I did that, the TVI fell from my hands and onto the floor. It rolled along the floor and a series of buttons were pressed until it came to a stop and a vortex was shot out from the top of the object.

"Unbelievable," I muttered to myself.

"Well son, it looks like you can go home now." Hakoda said as he gave me a slight nudge toward the object that would take me back home to my world.

"Yea I suppose I can," I said as I casted a glance back at Azula and found that she was starting to be released from her chains. "Well I suppose this is it," I looked at the group that I had barely known and yet felt like I knew them for an entire lifetime. "I guess this is goodbye; I bid you all the best of luck in your future." I said as I took a step towards my pathway home. "Goodbye," they all said in almost perfect unison that it was scary. I took one step closer completely oblivious to the events going on behind me and stepped into vortex and back to my home.

xXx

I arrived in what looked like my hometown, yet it seemed as if nothing was going on and it was a dreary day. _That's odd. I wonder why it's so melancholy here. More importantly, I wonder how I ended up here._

I started to walk around when I heard a somewhat loud, monotone voice coming off in the distance from where I figured was the cemetery. "… We are gathered here today," _oh boy, it's a funeral, _"in remembrance of Austin Bourne," _HO-LY SHIT, IT'S MY FUNERAL!_

I sprinted as fast as I could to where I heard the voices coming from, when I abruptly stopped as I saw my mother and younger brother and sister. They were all dressed in black and crying heavily as they looked upon a casket being lowered down into the ground. I slowly approached them and hesitantly called out to them.

"M-… mom, Alex.. Chloe… is that you?" As I drew closer my mother's head looked up at me. At first she had a look of sadness and horror, but after finally realizing what she saw, it was replaced by a look of excitement and relief.

"Aus- Austin? Austin!" She screamed, and she along with Alex and Chloe came running at me. They tackled me to the ground in a ferocious bear hug, one of which that I returned with just as much fierceness.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, you hear! I have been worried sick about you! Did you know we believed that you had really died!" She was both angry and happy at the same time; crying tears of joy and sadness, hitting me as well as hugging me.

"I know mom, and I'm really sorry for making you go through all of that." I said as I embraced all three of them in a group hug yet again.

"It's alright, you're home and safe now. Just tell me, where the hell were you!" She said as she smacked my right shoulder.

"Actually it's quite an interesting story and I don't think you'll believe it yourself." I was about to tell them about my great journey when something else caught my attention.

A familiar voice called out for me, "Austin is that you?"

As I turned around I could not believe what I saw.

"Azula?"

**A/N: Well and that is that. I did have some other ideas when it came to finishing the story, but this is what I stuck with. If I get enough responses to publish the alternate endings I will do so. I would like to take a moment to thank the readers who have been on this journey with me since chapter one. It's been a great ride and I think writing this story benefitted you, the reader, just as much as it did for me. Thanks again!**


	12. AN-Sequel?

**A/N: Well, I know that it has been a very long time since I last updated the story, as you all know, mainly due to the fact that I ruled it complete. I am also aware of the fact that many of you aren't too pleased with how I ended this journey that we have been on. But, be rest assured that I had my reasons and something is being done. First and foremost, that was how I originally wanted to end the story. I wanted to leave it ambiguous because I wanted you, the readers, to create your own ending on how you think the direction would have veered from there. Nonetheless, I received multiple reviews in which people stated that they wanted me to continue the story. However, tying in with the second reason, I had a very bad case of writer's block combined with an arduous and tantalizing school schedule. These are the main two reasons that I have ended the story thus far.**

**But, like I mentioned previously, a sequel along with an alternate ending is in the works. This time I want to have been finished with more of the story before I post it to give myself more time to think as well as to give you, the readers, more to read at once. With that said, I do not know when the story will be published, but, if someone out there considers themselves to be a good writer and/or beta, and wishes to help me in this task, then they may contact me via private message. In addition to a sequel, I am coming up with an alternate ending for this story, as well as an alternate version for the sequel. In a sense, I will have two different versions for the sequel.**

**I know that it has been a long and difficult journey, well at least for me it has, but, I would like to thank all of you that have been with me since the beginning, and even those that came on anytime later. It has truly been a remarkable experience in publishing my first work to this wondrous site and I thank each and everyone one of you that has stuck it out and given me the support and confidence to continue on. **

**So with all of this said, I would lastly like to say thank you. I know I have said it before, but I would really like to reiterate that point. Thank you for everything – from the support and giving me the confidence I needed to carry on – it has truly been a rewarding journey. **


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